He wrote some great songs referring to family life. Have you listened to the songs on "New Morning" and "Planet Waves"? They're mostly about the joys of having and loving his wife and family. How about "Forever Young" (a song written to his children)? How about "Lord, Protect My Child"?

In his earlier years (1961-64) what Dylan was doing was very much evoking the whole Woody Guthrie ethic (which he certainly adopted and believed in), and Woody was a social crusader and protestor against the high and mighty in society, a champion of the poor and oppressed...so Bob just naturally starting writing similar material in theme to what Woody had done before him. His focus on that shifted after the 3rd album and became more personal and introspective...his social criticism more all-encompassing than specifically political. In later years he began returning to the social crusader role from time to time, with songs like "George Jackson" (1970?), "Hurricane" (1975), and many, many others after that.

It's hard to have the "responsibility" for everything that's going on in the World at large...unless you happen to be George Bush or Henry Kissinger or Putin or Sharon or someone else like that. And I notice that those people do not question the powers that be. :-) They make use of them.

It is artists, philosophers, and writers in any society who question the status quo "from on high", as you say, but they are not the people in charge of it by any stretch of the imagination. If they did not speak out on behalf of a suffering and oppressed humanity, who would?