They will have to change and become more like conservative parties in the UK, Australia that aren't so hung up on social issues like abortion and same sex marriage, and focused more on the economy.

Basically this.

The thing is though, in places like the UK Conservative Party members who are conservative aren't as conservative as say, people in Alabama. In the UK, most conservatives liked David Cameron despite him bringing gay marriage to the table. I'm not sure if that is the same in the US. It's a scary thought that even if Trump wasn't around this year - it'd be Cruz they selected

Because its the people who are selecting the candidates, it'll require a change of mentality by Republican members as well. I can't see that happening quickly.

No. There's still too many of them. Even if the leaders change, a lot of the voters are still as bigoted as they were 100 years ago.

They need to move to move to the left on social issues while keeping the religious right in the party and keeping the xenophobic right in the party. It's going to be very difficult for them.

The conservative party needs to update more than just its social views. Our current economy and class system is heavily intertwined and systematically affects those based on where they fall in society based on gender, race, orientation, etc. You can't really genuinely update one of them without changing the other. And at that point they aren't really the conservative party anymore.

You wish it would.

well given the about 110 million people in the US are republicans or republican leaning I doubt that will happen sis.

If the republicans fade, clearly the democrats will fill that void. Now what party will take their place is the story.