Remodeling an outmoded Republican Party (Commentary)

By WILLIAM SALETAN

WASHINGTON -- Progressives like to think theyre the engine of history. They fight for change, and eventually conservatives succumb. But itdoesn'talways work out that way. History is littered with liberal ideas pacifism, high taxation, single parenting by choice that conservatives challenged and defeated. Progressives may drive history, but conservatives filter it.

Thats what makes the reflections of conservative writers on the 2012 presidential election so interesting. Its the filtering process at work.

Republicans have suffered a defeat, and theyre seeing, in polling trends, signs of trouble ahead.

Many of them believe it will become increasingly difficult to win elections with their partys current positions on immigration, marriage and other issues. Theyre trying to figure out what the GOP must do to restore its viability, and whether they can stomach the changes.

When this process is complete once the party has decided which changes will be accepted and how they will be reframed and assimilated into a conservative worldview this stage of history will be consolidated. The old radicalism will be the new consensus.

What will that consensus look like? Here are some early glimpses, through the eyes of the rights leading essayists.

America is assimilation

Michael Gerson, the former George W. Bush speechwriter, argues in his Washington Post column that the GOP must change its attitude toward Latinos. Instead of Mitt Romneys self-deportation scheme, Gerson proposes a vision of American identity preserved by the assimilating power of American ideals. And that would lead Republicans to endorse the Dream Act and to support a rigorous path to citizenship for undocumented workers already in the country. According to Gerson, this approach would abandon notions of nationalism based on the exclusion of outsiders and the building of walls.

Illegal immigrants epitomize American values

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Remodeling an outmoded Republican Party (Commentary)