Community Building in the Washington, DC area!!

SFP Editor: How did you become interested in writing about politics? Michael Zak: I decided to write Back to Basics for the Republican Party back in 1988, while looking back at American politics from Venezuela, where I was working at the Embassy. It was clear to me that most Republican leaders did not know much about their own party.

SFP Editor: What did you hope to achieve with your book Back to Basics for the Republican Party?

Michael Zak: My goal is to help Reublicans learn to appreciate their party's history.

SFP Editor: Do you think the current Republican Party is going Back to Basics?

Michael Zak: Under President George W. Bush, the GOP is indeed getting back to basics, but progress will be much faster as the book becomes more widely read.

SFP Editor: Please share some historical anecdotes on the US political system which is little known by the general public.

Michael Zak: The first Republican presidential candidate as a southern-born abolitionist. Susan B. Anthony, when arrested for casting a ballot in 1872, boasted to Elizabeth Cady Stanton that she had voted for "the Republican ticket -- straight." Not all southerners supported the Confederacy during the Civil War. In addition to the 200,000 blacks in the Union Army, 100,000 southern whites also fought against the Confederacy. The Civil Rights Acts of 1866, 1875, 1957, and 1960 were Republican laws, and the GOP supported the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 much more than did the Democrats.

SFP Editor: Who is your favorite president and why?

Michael Zak: As is the case with most people, my favorite President is Abraham Lincoln. The difficulties he faced and overcame are still hard to fathom.

SFP Editor: What advice would

Michael Zak: you give either party on how to win the next presidential election? For Republicans, my advice is to renominate President Bush. For Democrats, my advice is to use this "down time" to develop new policies and new leadership.

SFP Editor: Describe the process of writing this book.

Michael Zak: I spent two years researching the book, then spent two weeks summarizing the book in one sentence before beginning the writing process. This focus enabled me to write it in just four months.

SFP Editor: What advice would you give writers who would like get published

Michael Zak:Consider first whether there is a market for it.

SFP Editor: Why did you come to DC to live?

Michael Zak:I went to Georgetown University and lived in DC for five years total while at the State Department before moving to Chicago, where among other things, I wrote the book. I moved back to DC for better access to political channels through which to market the book.

SFP Editor: Do you have plans for another book?

Michael Zak: There is one more book for me to write, but it is years away.