As I have noted, Romney – mistakes and all – ran a pretty-good campaign.  For many, many reasons, no Republican could have beaten Obama.  Time to move on.  Even if we still have a two-party system in 2016 and the incumbent has not yet found a way to stay on as President-For-Life, Republicans will have just one last shot before yielding permanently to the demographic and cultural tidal-wave that will leave us with – at best – a pale imitation of the Chinese version of a market-based economy, complete with the brand-new, written-from-scratch, up-to-date constitution over which the Left is now in a state of full arousal.  So, what to do, what to do?

Option (1):  Lie back and enjoy the last few halcyon days of the American Era.  Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we embark upon State Capitalism.  Don’t just do something, stand there!

Option (2): Try, and this time I mean seriously try, to win a national election.  Forget about being true to our moral principles and values (otherwise identified, with appropriate derision, as “social issues”), forget about being culturally superior (understand that winning candidates are endorsed by rappers, not operatic tenors), and forget about the Good Old Days before our cultural and moral decline, food stamps for middle-management executives, and your middle-school daughter whose Facebook Friends know more about her sex life than you do.   Above all, stop worrying about the fact that one-trillionth of our annual deficit consists of your share of the cost of Sandra Fluke’s birth control pills.

Let’s explore Option (2) in greater detail.  First of all, Republicans cannot win in 2016 (or even keep the House in 2014) unless they find a way to get way more Blacks, Latinos, Jews, and poor people to vote for them.  Romney was correct:  47% of America was never going to vote for him, if he persisted in being Romney.   There are only two ways to win in the upcoming elections:  (i) pander; and (ii) pander more.  This is not a new idea – American politicians have promised more than they expected to deliver, for nearly the entire history of the country.  George Washington may have been the one exception; no one else ever under-promised.  To win an election in 21^st century America, a candidate must come right out and lie, with conviction and charm.  Republicans have this thing about explaining how much we are going to suffer, with cutbacks and reductions and living-within-our-means and prudence and how we did things back in the days of the Gold Standard, and the 47% just roll their eyes and think, I want mine NOW and I don’t give a damn about how bad things might be after I am dead.  Class-envy sells because it exists.

There is only one living Republican with a chance of accomplishing any of this makeover:  Marco Rubio.  The biggest of the potential swing-blocks is the Latino vote – big, and getting bigger every time the sun goes down and the fence along the Rio Grande goes un-built.  Bush 43 got a good chunk of the Latino vote, but that was because he had strong Latino- connections and was more than willing to pander as and when needed.  It would take a Rubio:  no Black- or Jewish-Republican would swing any Blacks or Jews, but a strong and charismatic Latino will swing Latinos.  Rubio has stronger connections, can pander artfully when he wants to (note his enlightened counter-proposal to the Dream Act), and has the kind of charm and political moves that, like the moves of an exceptional running-back, cannot be taught.

Rubio is the last best chance for Western Civilization.  2016 is too late; he needs to be the de facto leader/nominee long-enough before the 2014 Congressional elections that his leadership and message have by then been universally accepted throughout the Republican Party and by all of its nominees for the House.   No more out-of-touch losers delivering sermons about rape and biological taxonomy.