Today I was thinking about a conversation I had years ago when I was just learning to cover national politics. I had arranged to have lunch with a well-known Republican political operative, who had just come off a string of election victories; I'd sought him out so I could better understand the philosophy behind his tactics.
He was nice enough to meet me, and over bites of burger he explained to me that he was pushing the party to ramp up its outreach to Latinos, who were, at the time, a much smaller group of voters and potential voters than they are now. "This way," he said, "we can grow the party without changing the party."
Well this fellow was a smart man, very good at his job, but of course he was wrong about that one. It just doesn't work that way. Ask Queen Elizabeth: In-laws change things. They bring fresh ideas and energy and, sometimes, new habits and priorities; they don't care about your old rivalries and resentments, but sometimes bring their own.
Unless you are willing to rule with an iron fist, suppress all difference, demand total allegiance and conformity as the price of admission, then new people will change things — sometimes in ways we will like and sometimes in ways we won't.
[For more of this story, written by Michel Martin, go to http://www.npr.org/2015/10/18/...pe-and-always-change]
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