First and most obviously, the Republican Party needs to shift its platform to react to the concerns of minority voters. Exit polls show Obama won 93 percent of the black vote, 71 percent of the Hispanic vote, and 73 percent of the Asian vote. Population projections by the Pew Research Center show that the Hispanic population will triple and the Asian population will double by 2050. Romney leaned on his 59 percent of the white vote, which is an unsustainable strategy for the Republican Party.

However, solutions do not take the form of tokenizing minorities, like putting Fla. Sen. Marco Rubio on the next presidential ticket would have done. One of the most prominent reasons to reject Romney is because his policies seemed to favor the white and wealthy. This was clear when a video leaked in September that showed Romney accusing 47 percent of Americans of being moochers. But it is also reflected in his platform, in which he sought to cut taxes for the rich and make massive spending cuts to government programs. These policies are anathema to the 27.4 percent of the black community and 28.2 percent of the Hispanics community in poverty.

Even on the issue of Obamacare, which Republicans thought was universally disliked according to polls conducted by Rasmussen Reports, voters are split with 44 percent supporting the law as is and 49 percent opposing it. Sixty-four percent of voters would rather entitlements be protected by increasing taxes on the rich then making cuts to Social Security or Medicare. As much as some Republicans may yearn for their Randian fantasy world, most Americans are willing to support a government with a vigorous safety net for the worst off.

For Republicans in Congress, this election does not mean doubling down on their far-right conservatism, but coming to a compromise on issues like the “fiscal cliff.” In Obama’s first term alone, Democrats have tried to end Republican filibusters in the Senate more than 240 times. To compare, during the entire eight years of the Clinton administration, there were 302 motions to close filibusters.

This may be a rude awakening for many that America is not as conservative as many dream it to be, but the crude reality requires a sharp shift to the center if Republicans do not want to go the way of the Whigs.