[classicman]

From last year and it is only getting worse.

The polarization between right-leaning Republicans and liberal Democrats has led to the vilification of any GOP members who even consider compromise with the other side, the Globe reports. This has been evident in recent weeks during the debt talks. Though polls indicate Republican voters would support a combination of spending cuts and tax increases, party leaders remain staunchly opposed to any revenue increases.

“Moderates were an endangered species, and now it’s just about an extinct species,” said Connie Morella, a moderate Republican and former Maryland congresswoman. “Republican leaders feel they need to be loyal to their party because there could be repercussions if they are not. They are afraid it might be held against them in the next election, and that’s a really difficult kind of prison to be in.”

Morella is concerned that many disaffected moderates are withdrawing their Republican Party registration and either becoming independents or removing themselves from the political scene altogether.

“I’m exasperated with all of it,” Sarah Emberley, a 50-year old Republican, told the Globe. “Our leadership is stuck. The Republican agenda is stuck. And the moderate voice has gotten lost in the whole rhetoric.”

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