And no I’m not talking about the Tom Cruise flick.

Washington Post’s Dan Balz has a very interesting article up today about the shifting demographics in our nation and how it is really putting the hurt on Republicans, to the point they are facing a permanent minority status:

For the past few months, political analysts and demographers have been poring over the results of the 2008 election and comparing them with presidential results from the past two decades. From whatever angle of their approach — age, race, economic status, geography — they have come to a remarkably similar conclusion. Almost all indicators are pressing the Republicans into minority status.

Republicans are still capable of winning individual elections, but until they find a way to reverse, or at least minimize, these broader changes in the country, their chances of returning to majority status will be severely reduced.

This is something many of us have felt for a long time. The inside the beltway thinkers try to sell this meme that we are a “right leaning” nation. There is some truth to that considering even our liberals are actually more right than the global norm, but in terms of American politics we are a left leaning nation. Here is one major indicator to validate this theory:

Democrats have won the popular vote in four of the past five elections, though in one case (2000) they did not end up in the White House. In years in which they have also won the electoral vote, Democrats have racked up sizable margins. Obama bested John McCain by 365 to 173, and Bill Clinton’s two victories were in the same range. George W. Bush’s two electoral-college victories were narrow; he won 271 votes in the disputed election of 2000 and 286 in his 2004 reelection.

Republicans love to try and rewrite history. I can’t count how many times I have heard them talk about Bush’s victories as though they were some major referendum, when in fact they were some of the closest elections this country has ever seen.

Some might take this as great news for the Democrats, but in fact it is bad news for our nation. I have blogged countless times about the need for a strong minority party. Its a crucial part of the checks and balances needed to keep our government on the right track.

So I hope Republicans read Dan’s article and take it to heart. They aren’t going to change the country or its people. They need to start changing. They need to expand their tent and become open to more ideas. At the same time they also need to distance themselves from the crazies that are right wing extremists. Stop grasping onto groups like the pro-lifers as some sort of massive demographic that will boost you back into majority status. They are not. Instead embrace a wide range of ideas and build from there. Then we might have a two party system capable of keeping the important balance of power in our nation.