So much for the “big tent” strategy. A group of Kansas Republican leaders wants to know exactly what corner of the tent their party members are in.

Any party official who’s not squarely in the same ideological corner as the party leadership now may become the target of a subjective shunning.

In an apparent effort to make sure people who hold local and state positions in their party toe the GOP line, the Kansas Republican Party decided last weekend to form a “loyalty committee.” The committee is charged with enforcing a new provision in the party’s constitution that says officials who are found to be helping a Democrat get elected could be stripped of their party offices.

Obviously, any political leader wants the members of his or her party to support that party’s candidates, but offering a carrot might be more productive than brandishing a stick. Rather than trying to shape the party’s philosophy to match the wishes of its members, Kansas Republican leaders are heading in a direction that many party members don’t support and then chastising those who fail to follow.

Since they can’t follow people into the voting booth and it seems unlikely that any county or state party official is going to show up on a Democrat’s list of contributors, it’s unclear how the loyalty committee will determine who should be targeted. What seems more likely is that the committee will use the new loyalty standards to intimidate or selectively punish those who the conservative wing of the party identify as not “Republican enough.”

The latest move, of course, is a continuation of the philosophical split that has caused so much dissension within the Kansas Republican Party in recent years. Party leaders were particularly galled by the defection of two leading Republican officials who successfully ran for state office as Democrats – Attorney General Paul Morrison and Lt. Gov. Mark Parkinson. Even more galling was the support Morrison and the team of Parkinson and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius received from Republicans as they defeated by wide margins the Republicans supported by the party’s conservative wing.

It’s understandable that the state Republican Party wants to avoid a repeat of those races. It’s also understandable that they want Republicans to be loyal to the party and supportive of its nominees. But the loyalty threat approved last weekend will only serve to deepen divisions within the party and perhaps prompt even more members to consider a switch.

Republicans traditionally support a free market approach. Rather than trying to badger its membership to be “loyal,” Kansas Republican leaders should spend their time trying to shape the party into an entity its members will freely choose to support.