Zak: It was Harry Reid who Proposed the Committee of Twelve

Michael Zak - [Excerpt]: The Democrats have thought several steps ahead of the Republicans with their Committee of Twelve. They'll use this Super Committee to create a huge crisis -- for President Obama to resolve. They hope to blame the GOP for an impasse of their own making. Read the full article at Grand Old Partisan... Read More......

History: Voter Fraud and Intimidation

GRAND OLD PARTISAN, 5/8/2011 by Michael Zak - "He said he was going to vote Republican, and they shot and killed him on the spot." Read More......

Reason to be very proud of the Republican Party

More on Emancipation Day...
MICHAEL ZAK, 4/16/2011 - DC Emancipation Day, thanks to the Republican Party "Today [April 16], the nation's capital celebrates "Emancipation Day" -- commemorating the Republican Party's abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, on April 16, 1862. ∴ That's right, the Republican Party freed the slaves in Washington, DC. It was the GOP that passed the DC Emancipation Act, despite fierce opposition from the Democrats. Of course, the Democrat mayor of DC and the Democrat president of the USA don't mention that fact.

One of the nation's leading abolitionists was Senator Henry Wilson (R-MA), who would later serve as vice president during President Grant's second term. In December 1861, Senator Wilson introduced a bill to abolish slavery in the District. The measure met with parliamentary obstacles from the pro-slavery Democratic Party.

The senator most responsible for outmaneuvering Democrat opposition was Ben Wade (R-OH). If in 1868, the racist Democrat president, Andrew Johnson, had been convicted during his impeachment trial, Senator Wade would have become president.

Overall, 99% of Republicans in Congress voted to free the slaves in the District of Columbia, while 83% of Democrats voted to keep those 3,100 African-Americans in chains.

While serving his one term in the U.S. House of Representatives, Abraham Lincoln had sponsored a bill to abolish slavery in DC. As president, he proudly signed the District of Columbia Emancipation Act, announcing "I have never doubted the constitutional authority of congress to abolish slavery in this District; and I have ever desired to see the national capital freed from the institution." Finally, it happened, thanks to Republican majorities in Congress.

Due to the fact that DC Emancipation Day is observed on April 15 this year, the federal tax filing deadline has been postponed to April 18. So, for these three extra days, we can also thank the GOP.

Here is a link to this article at Grand Old Partisan.

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country. He is the author of Back to Basics for the Republican Party, the acclaimed history of the GOP cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision.

See www.grandoldpartisan.com for more information.

Michael Zak's Email: grand_old_partisan@hotmail.com Read More......

A Republican President issued the Emancipation Proclamation

"On this day in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln (R-IL) issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Effective at yearend, all slaves in Confederate-controlled territory would be "forever free." ∴ Ill-informed critics of the first Republican President Lincoln fault the Emancipation Proclamation for only freeing slaves in areas not yet under the control of the U.S. government, but -- because of the Democratic Party's resolute defense of slavery -- the federal government had the necessary authority only over so-called "property" of the rebels. ∴ Within two years, the Republican-controlled 38th Congress followed up this great advance by enacting the 13th Amendment, banning slavery throughout the nation."

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country. Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP, He is also the author of the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar. His Grand Old Partisan website celebrates more than fifteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Visit www.grandoldpartisan.com for more information. Read More......

Zak: Ronald Reagan sums it up very nicely

GRAND OLD PARTISAN by Michael Zak - Addressing the Republican National Convention on this day [August 15th] in 1988, Ronaldus Magnus said: ∴ "Our party speaks for human freedom - for the sweep of liberties that are at the core of our existence. We do not shirk from our duties to preserve freedom so it can unfold across the world for yearning millions. ∴ We believe that lasting peace comes only through strength and not through the goodwill of our adversaries. ∴ We have a healthy skepticism of government - checking its excesses at the same time we're willing to harness its energy when it helps improve the lives of our citizens. ∴ We have pretty strong notions that higher tax receipts are no inherent right of the Federal Government. ∴ We respect the values that bind us together as families and as a nation. ∴ I believe that God put this land between the two great oceans to be found by special people from every corner of the world who had that extra love of freedom that prompted them to leave their homeland and come to this land to make it a brilliant light beam of freedom to the world."

Michael Zak is a popular speaker to Republican organizations around the country. Back to Basics for the Republican Party is his acclaimed history of the GOP, cited by Clarence Thomas in a Supreme Court decision. He is also the author of the 2005 Republican Freedom Calendar. His Grand Old Partisan website celebrates more than fifteen decades of Republican heroes and heroics. Read More......

Republicans repealed the Fugitive Slave Act

GRAND OLD PARTISAN, 6/28/2010 by Michael Zak - On this day in 1864, the Republican-controlled 38th Congress repealed the notorious Fugitive Slave Act. The law had enabled slave catchers to operate freely in northern states and to kidnap any African-American residing there. Merely by attesting that the person was an escaped slave, a slave catcher could chain him and drag him away to a southern slave market. Moreover, the law required all free people as well as all local and state and federal government officials to assist slave catchers. ∴ A pair of Democrats, Senator James Mason (D-VA) and Senator Andrew Butler (D-SC), had written the Fugitive Slave Act. ∴ The bill repealing the Fugitive Slave Act was written by a Republican congressman from Ohio, Rufus Spalding [pictured]. A Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, signed it into law.

If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. --Abraham Lincoln, 1864 Read More......

Zak: The Republican Roots of the 1964 Civil Rights Act

Via email from Michael Zak, 6/1/2010 - Rand Paul's controversial remarks about the 1964 Civil Rights Act illustrate what I have been saying for years, that Republicans would benefit tremendously from knowing and appreciating the heritage of our Grand Old Party. That landmark legislation was the culmination of a century of efforts by Republicans to protect African-Americans from their Democrat oppressors. Let's look at the facts.

On his deathbed in 1874, Senator Charles Sumner (R- MA) told a Republican colleague: "You must take care of the civil rights bill - my bill, the civil rights bill. Don't let it fail." In March 1875, the Republican-controlled 43rd Congress followed up the GOP's 1866 Civil Rights Act and 1871 Civil Rights Act with the most comprehensive civil rights legislation ever. A Republican president, Ulysses Grant, signed the bill into law that same day.

Among its provisions, the 1875 Civil Rights Act banned racial discrimination in public accommodations. Sound familiar? Though struck down by the Supreme Court eight years later, the 1875 Civil Rights Act would be reborn as the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

During the twenty years of the FDR and Truman administrations, the Democrats had refused to enact any civil rights legislation. In contrast, President Dwight Eisenhower signed the 1957 Civil Rights Act, which had been written by his Attorney General, a former Chairman of the Republican National Committee. The original draft would have permitted the federal government to sue anyone violating another person's constitutional rights, but this powerful provision would have to wait until the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The bill had to be weakened considerably to secure enough Democrat votes to pass, so violations would be civil, not criminal offenses, and penalties were light. Vice President Richard Nixon helped overcome a Democrat filibuster in the Senate. The GOP then strengthened enforcement with its 1960 Civil Rights Act.

Clever strategizing had won him the support of most African-American voters, but it took President John Kennedy (D-MA) nearly two years to make good on even one of his promises to them. He refused to attend a dinner commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and turned down Martin Luther King's invitation to speak at the March on Washington. He did name Thurgood Marshall to the federal bench, but that was to an appeals court in New York, far from the fray in southern states. Kennedy did not honor his campaign promise to submit to Congress a new civil rights bill soon after taking office.

While the Kennedy administration was ignoring its campaign pledges, the Republican minority in Congress introduced several bills to protect the constitutional rights of African-Americans. In January 1963, congressional Republicans introduced a sweeping civil rights bill to enact what Democrat opposition had prevented from being included in the 1957 and 1960 laws. Threatened by this initiative, the president finally acted. Hastily drafted in a single one- nighter, the Kennedy bill fell well short of what the GOP had introduced the month before. Many Democrats were preparing a protracted Senate filibuster of this civil rights bill, which was in a committee of the House of Representatives when John Kennedy was murdered in November 1963.

The 1964 Civil Rights Act was an update of Charles Sumner's 1875 Civil Rights Act. In striking down that law in 1883, the Supreme Court had ruled that the 14th Amendment was insufficient constitutional authorization, so the 1964 Civil Rights Act had to be written in such a way as to rely on the interstate commerce clause for its constitutional underpinning. The 1964 Act guaranteed equal access to public facilities and banned racial discrimination by any entity receiving federal funding, thereby extending coverage to most every hospital, school and government contractor. Also banned was racial discrimination in unions and in companies with more than twenty-five employees. Enforcement provisions were much more rigorous than those of the 1957 and 1960 Acts.

Republicans supported the 1964 Civil Rights Act much more than did the Democrats. Contrary to Democrat myth, Everett Dirksen (R-IL), the Senate Minority Leader - not President Lyndon Johnson - was the person most responsible for its passage. Mindful of how Democrat opposition had forced Republicans to weaken their 1957 and 1960 Civil Rights Acts, President Johnson promised Republicans that he would publicly credit the GOP for its strong support. Johnson played no role in the legislative fight. In the House of Representatives, the 1964 Civil Rights Act passed with 80% support from Republicans but only 63% support from Democrats.

In the Senate, Dirksen had no trouble rounding up the votes of most Republicans, and former presidential candidate Richard Nixon lobbied hard for passage. On the Democrat side, the Senate leadership did support the bill, while the chief opponents were Senators Sam Ervin (D-NC), Al Gore (D-TN) and Robert Byrd (R-WV). Senator Byrd, whom Democrats still call "the conscience of the Senate," filibustered against the 1964 Civil Rights Act for fourteen straight hours. At a meeting held in his office, Dirksen modified the bill so it could be passed despite Democrat opposition. He strongly condemned the Democrat-led 57-day filibuster: "The time has come for equality of opportunity in sharing of government, in education, and in employment. It must not be stayed or denied. It is here!"

Along with most other political leaders at the time, Johnson, credited Dirksen for getting the bill passed: "The Attorney General said that you were very helpful and did an excellent job. I'll see that you get proper attention and credit." At the time, for instance, The Chicago Defender, a renowned African-American newspaper, praised Senator Dirksen for leading passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

The struggle for civil rights was not finished, however, as most southern states remained under the control of segregationist Democrat governors, such as George Wallace (D-AL), Orval Faubus (D-AR) and Lester Maddox (D-GA). Full enforcement of the 1964 Civil Rights Act would not arrive until the Republican political ascendancy in the South during the 1980s.

To quote from Back to Basics for the Republican Party, "The more we Republicans know about the history of our party, the more the Democrats will worry about the future of theirs." See Grand Old Partisan for more information.

You can help me to help the GOP, by sending this link for the article to your contacts nationwide. It is on my Grand Old Partisan website.

The purpose of Back to Basics for the Republican Party and my speeches around the nation is to show Republicans how they would benefit tremendously from appreciating the heritage of the GOP. Read More......

Zak: The Republican Party began as a Tea Party Movement

GRAND OLD PARTISAN BLOG, February 2010 by Michael Zak - Republicans should welcome a comparison of their party’s history with that of the Democrats – the party of slavery and socialism, Big Government and the Ku Klux Klan. ∴ As Republicans try to repel the socialist onslaught, the way to win – and to deserve to win – is to embrace our party’s original reform agenda. The patriots who created our Grand Old Party did so in order to preserve the vision of the Founding Fathers. And the way they did it has valuable lessons for us today. ∴ Let’s first look at the party currently in power. Democrat ties to the legacy of Thomas Jefferson are negligible. In fact, the Democratic Party was established in 1832 at a national convention organized by Cabinet secretaries and other prominent supporters of the Andrew Jackson administration. From the start, the Democratic Party was a top-down organization. Submission to the grand leader and astroturfing – that is, fake grassroots activity – for the Democrats it’s the same old same old. ∴ In contrast, the Republican Party began as a truly grassroots movement very similar to the Tea Parties now sweeping the nation. Ordinary people doing extraordinary things – that’s what created the GOP. For example: Read more at the Grand Old Partisans'"Know Your Republican Heritage"...

We all need to spend some time on this site; our GOP history has been perverted by liberal historians wanting to block out their horrendous history. Michael Zak is the author of "Back to Basics for the Republican Party." --bc Read More......