Tag Archives: demographics

Sex, Thomistic Essentialism, and the Demographic Maintenance of the Catholic Church

With regard to sex, Thomism is a question-begging exercise that puts a veneer of essentialist metaphysics over the question, “Why is God upset if humans don’t make use of their sex organs in accord with their primary and essential function?” … Continue reading

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Ann Coulter’s Prediction on Immigration, and Her Prescription

Ann Coulter makes a prediction: At the current accelerated rate of immigration–1.1 million new immigrants every year–Republicans will be a fringe party in about a decade. I think her prediction is basically accurate if the GOP does not adjust to … Continue reading

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Republicans Face a Demographic Tsunami in 2016

Ruy Teixeira explains: How bad could 2016 be for Republicans? Pretty bad. Start with the likelihood that minorities, who voted 80 percent for Obama, will increase by 2 points to 30 percent of voters. Add to that the continued growth of heavily … Continue reading

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The Lowdown on Tea Party Strategy (and Why It’s Doomed to Fail)

If you’re wondering where the Tea Party has gotten the bulk of its political energy, look South. According to a recent academic study, half of all Southern whites are Tea Party supporters. Half. And, as Michael Lind notes in a … Continue reading

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The Meaning of Life in the Midst of Large Numbers

In For the Time Being (1999), Annie Dillard (b. 1945) writes the following: “There is now, living in New York City, a church-sanctioned hermit, Theresa Mancuso, who wrote recently, ‘The thing we desperately need is to face the way it is’” … Continue reading

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Republicans Have a Serious Racism Problem

And it’s getting worse. Tom Edsall at The New York Times reviews some of the academic literature on this subject: [R]esearchers have gathered a substantial amount of information on the opinions of white American voters. The political scientists Michael Tesler of Brown … Continue reading

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Nate Cohn on the Republican Path to Victory in 2016

It’s narrow. Here’s Nate Cohn at The New Republic: [I]t looks like Republicans will need to count on the appeal of their 2016 presidential candidate and economic fundamentals to overcome the party’s limited appeal. In other words, Republicans need a … Continue reading

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Obama Surfs the Demographic Wave, But Through Target Marketing (the Use of Big Data), Not Reason

Jonathan Alter’s new book, The Center Holds, on President Obama and the 2012 election, was recently reviewed in The New York Times, and there are some revelations in it: [Alter] thinks the United States “dodged a bullet in 2012,” and … Continue reading

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Race and the Republican Party

According to the most recent census figures, the percentage of Americans who identify themselves as “white, not Hispanic” is 63.4% of the population. The United States has about 314 million citizens, and therefore about 199 million white citizens. Why do … Continue reading

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X Marks the Flop: The Real Problem for Cultural Conservatives Going Forward

Whether you’re an anti-gay evangelical activist or a Muslim dreaming of a new caliphate, here’s the really big picture: liberal attitudes are well adapted to urban life and culturally conservative ones are less so. And the world’s demographics are moving … Continue reading

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The Comforts of Modernity Lead to Atheism

That’s the fascinating thesis of psychologist Nigel Barber, supported: (1) inductively, by research he’s been conducting; and (2) deductively, by a rather straightforward syllogism, which I would put this way: Religion thrives on fear and insecurity. Where people have it … Continue reading

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If Mitt Loses

At the New York Times Magazine, Matt Bai offers his take on what will happen within the Republican Party should Mitt Romney lose: [A]ttention will instantly shift toward the new generation of potential messengers: Paul Ryan and Marco Rubio, Chris Christie … Continue reading

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Two Bad Numbers for Republicans

These come from Michael Tomasky at the Daily Beast. Here’s the first: [E]lectoral demographer Ruy Teixeira reported recently that this bloc [white blue-collar voters] will constitute a sizeable 3 percent less of the electorate this year than it did in 2008—the minority … Continue reading

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Why I Predict Rick Santorum Will Be the Republican Nominee

Demographics. They’re working against white conservatives, and it’s making them ornery. Thanks to demographics, Jonathan Chait at New York magazine explains the fight or stand-down existential dilemma facing Republicans going forward: [T]he psychology of decline does not always operate in … Continue reading

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If President Obama Dips below 43% of the White Vote, Can He Still Win in 2012?

If President Barack Obama cannot capture the white vote at quite the same numbers that he did in 2008 (43%), does that pretty much doom his chances in 2012 for a second term? A demographic trends analysis at National Journal suggests … Continue reading

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The Simple Truth

I think what the ideologically motivated person wants is a one party controlled state. Left or right, it is a poverty of wisdom and proportion to desire such a thing. The great danger is that the right, in a time … Continue reading

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A Reality Check for Tea Partiers—and a Reason to Dance

At 538 yesterday was a tidy summing up of the trecherous demographic waters facing the Republican Party as it moves into the next decade or two: The Center for American Politics’ Ruy Teixeira, one of the top political demographers in … Continue reading

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America’s future is sunny? I hope David Brooks is right

In a recent essay for the New York Times, David Brooks claims that the next half-century in America looks damn sunny: [T]he fact is, despite all the problems, America’s future is exceedingly bright. Over the next 40 years, demographers estimate that … Continue reading

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How Do You Spell Relief? NY-23!

The Fox-Limbaugh industrial propaganda complex once again discovered its own limitations on Tuesday when, despite an all out push to win the NY-23 congressional seat, and giving the race a mesmerizing air of inevitability (“teabaggers are rising up in crushing numbers; we’ll … Continue reading

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Republicans: 21% of the United States Population

So according to a new Washington Post poll. That’s the lowest Republican self-identification in over 25 years. Just one in five Americans is now openly Republican. Imagine. And what’s left of the Republican Party seems to be veering towards the … Continue reading

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