Hi Freda,

I hear you say,

"i think it would be more effective to challenge a political hierarchy that has power, such as a government, than to spend time arguing against a soft target like mudcat."

I think of Mudcat as being a democratic institution. Chomsky says that it's futile to "speak truth to power" to the already established power elite. They know what the "truth" is. I don't think any of us
are challenging Mudcat. We are challenging ideas and having a dialogue. This may be more important than sending a letter to someone who will file it under trash. By comparing ideas, challenging them and evaluating what Mudcatters say, this may have
more use in the long run then shouting down deaf ears.

Amos with all due respect I disagree with your statement,

"You don't understand power or what it is used for or how it works. Every exercise of authority that you don't agree with is perceived by you as an abuse of power when it isn't. Surrounding this sorry fact with clouds of Cosmic Rhetoric just ain't gonna change the ground truth...."

I think we are capable of understanding the nature of power and how and why it is used. "Every excercise of authority" is too general.
There are certain excercises of authority that I think we can all pretty much agree on. Most of us obey the law and if not some may challenge it and accept the consequences. As far as those laws or exercises of authority that we don't agree with, we have to be specific. When it comes to violations of human rights, ignoring
violations by corporate criminals, promoting unjust wars, or other issues presented by this thread, I don't see the vague Cosmic Rhetoric. I think these are pretty specific. Can't imagine what the
"ground truth" is though. Maybe you can elucidate.

You also state,
"I suggest you find out what is really behind your caviling and upset, and address that -- perhaps a recent lifetime amongst the Bolsheviks......."

Really not clear where this is going. It sounds like a reaction.
Maybe that we should be focusing on gulags and Bolshevism rather
than talking about a potential facist takeover of the US? The thread seems to be pretty clear as to what the subject is. Should it be
diverted to something else and if so for what reason?

Jack London wrote an interesting book called the "Iron Heel" which
talks about the rise of what was later to known as facism. It was kind of a prediction that came out of his observations. Are we not
entitled to do the same?

There is a reason that the BS section of Mudcat has been retained.
I think that it's because there are people in the folk music area
that have an astute sense of social issues and recognize the tradition of topical songs which don't arise out of a vacuum. They are a part of what we call the folk process. One thing I've noticed about people who are folkies, they don't think in lock-step like some have claimed. There's a wonderful diversity of opinion here and I
find it refreshing and applaud it.

Frank