Michael D. Hais

Growing up in a Washington D.C. suburb, I developed a lifelong interest in politics and an abiding belief in American democracy. It all just seemed to come naturally—what was “national” news everywhere else was “local” news in my hometown.

My belief in democracy was bolstered by my father’s reminders that the United States and its freedoms made our lives both comfortable and secure, something that my grandparents, Jewish refugees from Tsarist Russia, dreamed of when they came to America a half-century earlier.

I believed that our democracy was both inevitable and indelible. Now, I am not so sure.

My first full-time job was teaching university courses in American politics and governmental institutions. Later, I conducted political polls for the Michigan Democratic Party and its candidates.

I ended my traditional career with a firm that conducts research for local television stations and national networks. And then I teamed with Morley Winograd, a close friend and fellow traveler in Democratic (and democratic) politics to write three books focusing on generational and political change in America.

The first three books received critical acclaim, but the fourth—with another close friend Doug Ross—may be the most important. Healing American Democracy: Going Local speaks directly to the preservation of our democracy.