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Editor's note: Eric Liu is the founder of Citizen University and the author of several books, including "A Chinaman's Chance" and "The Gardens of Democracy." He was a White House speechwriter and policy adviser for President Bill Clinton. Follow him on Twitter: @ericpliu. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) -- Voter turnout was terrible last Tuesday. As President Barack Obama lamented in his post-election press conference Wednesday, two-thirds of voters chose not to vote, making it perhaps the lowest midterm turnout since the 1940s. Conventional wisdom says low turnout favors Republicans, and it did last week. But the days when one party sees low turnout as being in its own interest might be drawing to a close -- and it may be Republicans who will drive the change.

Eric Liu

First, some context. Midterm electorates are typically smaller, whiter and older than presidential electorates. In recent years, the GOP has worked hard to ensure that its shrinking, white, aging base turns out in disproportionately large numbers. And even though there are plenty of Republican leaders who'd like to see their party become younger and more diverse, the practical pressures of here-and-now politics have led them to go into campaigns with the voters they have, not the ones they wished they had.

But on Tuesday, the wishes of those Republicans hoping to expand the base started coming true -- at least on the margins, and enough to suggest a new way forward. While Republicans extended their dominance among older white voters, they also made modest inroads with Latino and Asian-American voters, partly by downplaying the nativist messages of past cycles and partly by exploiting frustration with the Obama administration.

Several new-generation black, Hispanic and Asian Republican candidates were also elected across the country. Meanwhile, GOP leaders such as Sen. Rand Paul have been engaging millennial voters on campuses and elsewhere with an unapologetic libertarianism that resonates with some young people.

As a result, it's possible for a smart Republican to see 2014 not only as a win, but as a hint of how the party could prevail in 2016 as well. To put it simply, the GOP might soon see it as in its own interest to boost turnout among young voters and voters of color, instead of writing them off or, as still happens too often, blocking them from voting at all.

This would be a major departure, to be sure. We're still a long way from a heartfelt and well-executed effort to expand the GOP demographic base. And even if party leaders want it, there are still too many voters who vote Republican precisely because they fear or blame the very people the leaders want to bring into the tent.

Still, it's at least becoming possible now. There is an opening among Latino, Asian and young voters. And it would be fantastic for the country if Republicans pushed to exploit that opening.

Read more from the original source:
New GOP could shake up politics

In a column written just before the election, prominent Harvard Law School Professor and former Obama administration official Cass Sunstein channels the great libertarian economist F.A. Hayeks classic critique of conservatism in his advice to the new GOP majority in Congress:

Instead of conservatism, Hayek argued for a principled commitment to liberty an approach that would sharply constrain government and take an essentially radical position, directed against popular prejudices, entrenched positions and firmly established privileges. Its fair to say that in the current period, Hayeks radical position would entail a strong commitment to free trade, a rejection of protectionism, decreased regulation, deep skepticism about occupational licensing (and other barriers to entry), a firm commitment to religious liberty, and less frequent appeals to patriotism as a substitute for freedom-protecting reforms

In his short essay, Hayek did not deliver a knockout punch against conservatism. But he did land some powerful blows, not least in his objection that conservatives cannot easily work with people whose values differ from their own.

In the coming period, however, Republicans will be under increasing pressure to define themselves affirmatively rather than by opposition. One of their chief goals should be to identify freedom-promoting initiatives that might attract support from people who cannot, by temperament or otherwise, be counted as conservative. They would do well to begin with a close reading of Hayek.

Sunsteins advice that the GOP pursue a radical Hayekian libertarian agenda may be in some tension with his recent critique of paranoid libertarianism, (which I commented on here). Still, I agree with him that Hayeks critique of conservatism remains relevant today. And I would be very happy if the new Republican-controlled Congress were to advance Hayekian reforms of expanding liberty and cutting back government regulation, while also eschewing appeals to nationalism.

Obviously, however, the GOP does not consist solely or even primarily of libertarians who feel the same way as I do. It has many other elements, including a still-strong social conservative contingent that party leaders must cater to in order to hold their coalition together. I am also skeptical about how much support a radical libertarian agenda (or even a moderate one) would attract from Sunsteins fellow liberal Democrats.

That said, I think it is possible to envision the GOP evolving in a more libertarian direction over the next few years. With the very important exception of immigration, the party emphasized libertarian ideas far more than social conservative ones in the fall election. Significantly, they did not even make much of an issue out of the rapidly growing trend towards acceptance of same-sex marriage and marijuana legalization.

Some Republicans have even begun to rethink the War on Drugs and the mass imprisonment it generates. The Tea Party the most dynamic part of the GOP in recent years has largely focused on fiscal and economic issues, and has a substantial libertarian component (though it also has many social conservatives in its ranks).

Meanwhile, younger Republicans are far more socially liberal than their elders. For example, a recent survey finds that 61% of 18-29 year old Republicans support same-sex marriage, and many also support marijuana legalization. Generational succession will likely give such views greater weight in the party over time. By contrast, young Republicans are generally no less suspicious of government spending and economic regulation than older ones. The GOP is still very far from being a libertarian party, and it may never fully become one. But it could well become significantly more libertarian over the next few years than it has been at any time in the recent past.

It is also possible that libertarian-leaning Republicans can cooperate with liberal Democrats on some issues, including cutting back on the War on Drugs, and NSA surveillance, among others. At the same time, past attempts to build a liberaltarian alliance have had only extremely limited success, in part because the gap between libertarians and the left on many issues is very large.

Link:
Volokh Conspiracy: Cass Sunstein channels Hayek