Mark Small

5. Mr Bales has chosen to ignore my recent blogs, some addressed to him specifically, about the progressive - dare I say “socialist”? - roots of the GOP. At one time the two “major” political parties had conservative and liberal wings. 14/26

6. My roots in what I view as true conservatism are far deeper than Mr Bales’s. I donated twenty-five percent (25%) of my income, at one time, to the GOP ticket for Pres/VP. I hassled classmates about the Republican Party. 15/26

To be clear, my donation was 25 cents - 1/4 of my weekly allowance of one dollar - and I was nine years old. I should be given some slack for being young and impulsive as I advocated Senator Goldwater’s candidacy. 16/26

More recently, I spoke at the first tea party rally in 2009 at the Indiana Statehouse. I didnt know the group that resulted from that rally would evolve into the “tea party.” That term had not yet gained traction, but another term had. 17/26

On 02/27/09, at “the first anti-stimulus New American Tea Party” rally in D.C., a protestor’s sign read: "Tea Bag the Liberal Dems before they Tea Bag You!!" The Washington Independent's David Weigel called it "the best sign I saw." The Week, 05/05/10. 18/26

On 03/02/09, Americans for Prosperity, a Koch brothers group, advocated sending tea bags to elected officials “to protest the economic stimulus package”. Several other lobby groups followed suit. Id. 19/26

On 04/01/09, “several Tea Party protest sites” encouraged “readers to ‘Tea bag the fools in DC.’” “Jay Nordlinger at National Review Online later” admitted Conservatives started “tea bag” but “others ran and ran with it." Id. 20/26

I was shocked, later, to realize what it means to “tea bag” someone. That was about the time that I Googled the term “Santorum.” I know sexual repression can lead to weirdness, but this was bizarre. 21/26