I was essentially told that moderate, pro-choice Republicans like myself are free to vote for the candidates selected by my superiors, but that I could have NO role in the party otherwise.

My positions as a deficit hawk were also highly unwelcome.

So was the fact that I supported McCain during the primaries in 2000 (can you say "blacklist"?)

This was in Virginia ... which is sort of an extreme case, with some VERY ugly intra-party stuff going on, with purges and loyalty tests and groupthink galore. I now live in Colorado, where things seem marginally better, but having been pushed around, insulted and essentially booted out of the GOP, I think that I am going to remain a political independent from now on. It has effected my voting, too -- I'll be darned if I am going to be dragooned into voting for candidates that I find to be low quality and extreme just out of party loyalty, or because Democrats are supposed to automatically be a vote for socialism and Satan.

Cheers!

-- Bokonon