Author: Michael Shank

‘Free Speech’ on the DC Metro

AL JAZEERA 10/09/12 By Michael Shank If someone got physically violent on the Metro in Washington, DC, they would get kicked off the train or bus. Similarly, if someone indecently exposed him or herself (as noted in the new Metro ads threatening action against indecent exposure) or yelled incendiary, racist […]

Hill Climbers: Aide Sees a Future in Congress

ROLL CALL 10/01/12 By Emily Cahn Michael Shank is driven by his commitment to progressive values. The returning communications director and senior policy adviser in Rep. Mike Honda’s (D-Calif.) office was raised in an Amish-Mennonite community in Kidron, Ohio, where the ideas of helping the downtrodden, sustainable development and nonviolence […]

We Must Revive the American Dream by Alleviating Poverty

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 09/26/12 By Michael Shank David Francis is right to question “Is the American Dream Dead?” (09/25/12). By all accounts, it is. The question, then, is how to revive it. According to this month’s Census Bureau report, America witnessed a 1.5 percent decline in the real […]

Democratic Party Looks Like America

THE HILL 09/06/12 By Michael Shank Being here in Charlotte, North Carolina, for the 2012 Democratic National Convention, having watched the Republican National Convention religiously on television, one thing that is explicitly different between the two national conventions is the diversity of delegates. Walking the convention hallways, the arena stairways, […]

Political Discourse: A Family Affair

WASHINGTON POST 09/04/12 By Michael Shank In pursuing politics in Washington, and as a senior congressional staffer, I am the odd one out in my extended family: many, if not most, of my relatives are farmers, preachers or teachers. At family reunions, consequently, like the one I recently returned from, […]

What Paul Ryan’s Economic Roadmap Means for America

POLITICO 08/24/12 By Michael Shank Working with one of House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s Democratic colleagues on the budget committee, as senior policy advisor to U.S. Congressman Michael Honda (D-Calif.) for several years, I know the economic picture Ryan is trying to paint all too well. It is a grim […]

Republicans and the Mennonite Vote

THE HILL 08/17/12 By Michael Shank In pursuing politics in Washington, and as a former senior congressional staffer, I am the odd one out in my extended family: many, if not most, of my relatives are farmers, preachers or teachers. At family reunions, consequently, like the one I recently returned […]

We Must Make Anti-Bullying a Mainstream Message

THE HILL 08/09/12 By Michael Shank On the heels of the Sikh temple shooting in Wisconsin, the U.S. Department of Education is hosting its Third Annual Bullying Prevention Summit this week, which is fortuitously timed and desperately needed. Without question, the Sikh temple shooter, Wade Michael Page, a self-proclaimed skinhead, […]

Questions Must Be About Gun Safety

FINANCIAL TIMES 08/04/12 By Michael Shank Sir, The real problem with the US gun debate is that polling questions are frequently framed as gun rights not as gun safety (“It is plain wrong to see the gun lobby as Svengali”, July 28). Few Americans want their rights stripped, but most […]

Inside the Beltway: Pillars of Liberty

WASHINGTON TIMES 07/25/12 By Jennifer Harper THE COST OF AURORA “Why must the tragic Colorado theater shootings stimulate a debate on more than mere gun control? Not simply because, or however remarkable the fact that, violent mass killings — whether in Columbine, Virginia Tech or now Aurora — tend to […]