I have been poking around various threads and have come to the conclusion that:
1. Free Republic is being deliberately herded further towards the right by the FR brain trust.
2. FR is consciously becoming less congenial to the GOP and its supporters (whether this is due to pure ideology or from the desire not to run afoul of campaign finance laws is not clear to me).
3. The ideologues' jihad against those who realize that the only way to counter the loony left is by winning elections — and that stridency and bombast are antithetical to that goal — has meant that many of the reasonable, erudite and thoughtful posters have departed for more congenial fora.
4. This attrition of articulate, knowledgeable posters has made FR less interesting to all but conservative ideologues.
5. The apparent transmogrification into a sounding board for those ultraconservatives who feel themselves politically disenfranchised will result in reduced readership and further isolation from the political mainstream.
6. My curiosity about the financial ramifications of all this has been aroused.
Thoughtful, articulate post. You're not thinking of leaving for more congenial fora are you?