Oh I agree the Democrats won’t allow an end to mass immigration. Of course, there have been times where the Republicans had the power to end it themselves, but were too stupid or cowardly to do so.
I also agree about Texas, though I don’t think it will be as bad as California, at least not for many years. What has made Texas so Republican is that the GOP routinely wins over 70% of the white vote there. Now that still equals domaninance and landslide in Texas. In another cycle or so it will probably change to simply leaning Republican. Then it will be a battleground state. Then it will be lights out for Republicans as a national contender.
Maybe we were doing fine with Asians 12 years ago, but I think the first President Bush was the last Republican to carry the Asian vote, and I think that was 1988. They’ve been voting Democrat since Clinton. We could argue about the reasons. Some might say it’s the GOP going ‘harsh’ on immigration since then (of course, if that were really true, then they wouldn’t have sabotaged the last real effort to cut immigration in the mid 90s when they had Democrat backing to do so with the Jordan Commission, not that it would have been harsh to do so). I would say their move to the left started right when immigration of Asians really took off and their numbers began to grow, and I would argue that it wasn’t a coincidence.
I think mass immigration reinforces pretty much every dynamic that causes immigrants to vote Democrat in the first place. So I really don’t see a way out now. It would take something drastic I’m afraid, to bring Democrats and Republicans together to end mass immigration, and I don’t even want to imagine what that would have to be.
9-11 could have been that moment. I always wonder, what if... 9-11 could have been our reason to lock down and secure the border with the military, and once done it might have been hard for the Democrats to undo it. Unfortunately we had another Bush in charge and he didn't believe in it. After 9-11 Bush had a free hand for a year or and he did not use that time the way the Democrats would have. A lot of common sense conservative ideas on security and immigration would have been popular with the public at that moment in time, but Bush blew the opportunity.
I think in the past we were winning the Asian vote because Republicans were perceived as tough on the communists. We had a lot of Koreans and Vietnamese that supported a hawkish position on foreign and defense policies - much like the Cubans. Sadly now, they just seem to want free stuff like everyone else.
Bottom line is, demographics are changing rapidly. We have to be able to at least talk in a way that doesn't alienate these groups. Look, we aren't talking about sacrificing principles here. I don't believe caving on immigration is going to make them like us. But good grief, we've got to at least not be poison to these people. Lets at least avoid associating ourselves with the Tom Tancredo's of the world. He talks about illegals as if they were a pestilence. Privately I kind of agree, but you just can't talk like that because the legal Hispanics hear that stuff and get the impression that conservatives don't like them as a people.