The reason the Republicans have gone this direction is because they don't have the numbers to win national elections with the classical conservative platform they used in the past. Younger voters are generally Dems, as are a majority of new citizens - so each year new waves of Dem voters are getting thrown into the system, which is precisely why the GOP are embracing things like gerrymandering, voter ID, limiting immigration etc. They know that is the only way to slow down the inevitable demographic changes that will over time move the country incrementally to the left.