Posted on 01/22/2006 2:18:43 AM PST by anymouse
Abraham Lincoln is one of America’s most beloved leaders. He was an advocate for the abolition of slavery, a skilled orator and a passionate defender of the union.
He was also the first Republican to be elected president of the United States.
Lincoln will be honored Feb. 5 during the Benton County Republican Women’s annual Lincoln Day Celebration Dinner. The event is the group’s primary fund-raiser of the year, and the money raised will go toward various community service projects, including its biggest project, donating dictionaries to fourth-graders around Benton County.
In the last two years, the Benton County Republican Women has donated 3,900 dictionaries to area students.
This year’s dinner event will feature Michael Zak, executive director of the Lincoln-Reagan Freedom Foundation, and a former policy analyst for the House Republican Policy Committee. He is also author of the book “Back to Basics for the Republican Party,” an examination of the history of the Republican Party.
In his book and articles, Zak argues that the Republican Party has a long history of civil rights leadership and support of women’s rights, and that this history is being ignored by mainstream media.
“Democrat opposition to Republican efforts to protect the civil rights of all Americans lasted not only throughout the Reconstruction, but well into the 20th century,” Zak writes, listing the number of minority and women politicians who came from Republican ranks.
“Just six years after the party’s founding, the governor of every northern state in America was Republican. That phenomenal progress was possible only because the Republican Party was based on the powerful idea that our nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to equality, must live up to its founding principles,” he wrote.
Zak, speaking from his home in Virginia, said he wrote the book after trying to find a history of the Republican Party that didn’t make fun of them. He couldn’t find one, he said, so he began doing research to write his own book.
“I believe Republicans today would benefit tremendously from knowing their history,” Zak said. “To know more about what their party has achieved puts them in a stronger position to carry out their agenda.”
Most Republicans today have no idea of the history of their party, and he was astonished when the 150th anniversary of the party came and went without celebration.
“One could not find a muffler shop that did not celebrate their tenth anniversary,” he said, and yet the anniversary of the party’s founding went unnoticed.
“It was a terrific outreach opportunity and they just let it slip by.”
Zak said he’s surprised how misinformed people are about the party’s history of civil rights activism.
“How can we Republicans expect voters to place their confidence in us if we don’t have confidence in our heritage?” he said.
Zak hopes that his book helps Republicans “seize the day right now, don’t concern yourselves with mistakes and the media.”
AT A GLANCE
Michael Zak, executive director of the Lincoln-Reagan Freedom Foundation, will be the featured speaker Feb. 5 at the annual Lincoln Day Celebration Dinner hosted by the Benton County Republican Women.
The dinner begins at 5 p.m. at the Corvallis Country Club. Tickets are $30 in advance and are available at Rush Hour Photo, 303 N.W. Harrison Blvd., or by calling Stella Guenther at 929-5382. Tickets will be $35 at the door.
The event, which raises money for the group’s dictionary project, also includes a silent auction and oral auction.
For more information on Zak and his book, “Back to Basics for the Republican Party,” see http://www.republicanbasics.com .
Ping ding ding!
This should bring the Lincoln loathers out of the woodwork.
Hope not this early....
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0970006322/qid=1137946658/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/104-5995734-8731113?s=books&v=glance&n=283155
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