D6, I love ya like a brother, but I think you're blinded by your idealism. B1B is on point with this analysis, at least on the surface.
First of all, if you're an engineer, you know that statements like "getting a hunting license with anyone with a (D) appended to their name" is pure rhetoric and not at all based in reality. You ain't changin' that one, lever or no lever -- unless you want to go to jail, of course.
Like it or not, the demographic and cultural shift IS a reality. The country is swinging left, and this is not just Euph lamenting and pissing in the wind. When you've got entire sections of the country that look at our social practices these days (on-demand, state-funded abortions, gay marriage, entitlement-hungry pissants, illegal immigration is okay, etc.), it's pretty easy to see where things are headed.
BUT, this doesn't mean to throw in the towel, and I take exception to your statement to B1B that he's defeated before he even starts. He never said he wouldn't work toward keeping those things from happening -- he's just pointing out trends and what the data show. Engineer that you are, you should know this.
I couldn't agree with you more about the Republican party. It's a shadow of its former self and I don't like what I see there. But it is the "other party" at the moment and you're forgetting that the aim of the Tea Party isn't to become yet another (failed) third party, but to effect change within the Republican party. This has the Repub elite in a quandary and they are employing all the means at their disposal to squash the Tea Party.
I've donated to the Tea Party and will continue to do so, because I believe in those general principles. But being the realist I am, when you've got the Dems, the MSM, and even the Repub elite drawing a bead on the Tea Partiers, how long can that last? I hope their efforts fully fail and the Juan McLames, McConnells, Boners, and the rest of the Repub elite run out of ammo, but that just might be wishful, hopeful thinking on my part.
Nope, I think B1B is on target with this. And it's a fight to the finish. If the illegal/amnesty thing becomes a reality, we're ****ed. Pure and simple.