July 26, 2015
I am a writer of genre fiction, but I am also engaged in the political realm. As a result, it seemed logical to have two separate blogs–one for each kind of post. For that reason I created PollaksPolitics.com, a blog where I post my thoughts on political issues. In case you’d like to label me before reading these, call me a Jeffersonian. I believe in the kind of democracy that the founders envisioned which expected its citizens to have a stake in society, to be informed, and to take responsibility for themselves and their families, not the kind that grants one a vote just because you reached the proper age. Remember much evil has come about due to elections in […]
May 27, 2014
Bernard Johnpoll with Lillian Johnpoll, The Impossible Dream. The Rise and Demise of the American Left, Greenwood Press, 1981 I was fortunate to have taken a class with Professor Johnpoll in the 1970s when I was a graduate student at the University at Albany. He was sui generis––a cigar smoking, iconoclastic, child of Communists who admired people who flirted with the Left while understanding their dreams were impossible. Why impossible? The conundrum socialists have been unable to solve for two hundred years is how to get from present circumstances to the “cooperative commonwealth.” Further, they never reached a consensus on what the cooperative commonwealth looked like, which made it easy for the leaders of the Russian, Chinese and Cuban revolutions […]
August 10, 2013
This column was first published September 30, 2010 on the Empire Page website. After more than six years of haggling, the final hurdles were recently overcome for the construction of a Wal-Mart Supercenter within the city limits of Gloversville in Fulton County in upstate New York. While Gloversville City Court Judge Vincent DeSantis, author of “Towards Civic Integrity; Re-establishing the Micropolis,” (2007) understands the motives of the public officials who pushed the project through, he believes that this is exactly the wrong kind of development that’s needed for cities like Gloversville to function successfully in the 21st century. In his self-published extended essay, Judge DeSantis chronicles oft-repeated accusations against Wal-Mart centered communities. In addition to the charge that they drive […]