Reply #30: Interesting point.

[SheilaT]

I used to live in Kansas, and I know at least one State Rep who has served as both a Republican, and more recently as a Democrat. She said any number of times that the Democrats have a lot more fun, and that the Republicans were always very uptight about which branch of the party (and in Kansas there's a very clear divide between the right-wing fundamentalists and the more normal ones)was paying attention. She said you never felt free to express what you felt, for fear it would be reported to the higher-ups in the party.