Sandy,

I have no direct knowledge of Joe Campbell's antisemitism. First, someone we both know mentioned it in passing to me in an E-mail after I'd said how much I admired Joe and his work. Then I just put "Joseph Campbell--- antisemitism" into a search engine and so much came up that I found it hard to discount all of it. It's not like he is running for public office and discrediting stuff surfaces as a dirty trick from the other side. I AM saddened by the fact that it has colored my feelings about someone who I truly admire and respect from his many fine works. I don't like it when idols get feet of clay---but maybe it just proves that we are all human and subject to this dark side of our beings.

Also, I see myself as more of a Socialist than a Democrat in that adding Socialist ideas to democratic values and Democracy is palatable, actually desireable, to me. FDR going for Social Security was correct. National health care for all would be correct---even at the expense of the rich (the rich = those that have extra cash.)

Still, this must be done within a system like the one we have where representatives of the people VOTE to make it happen because their constituents (we the people) want it to occur. It shouldn't be done, ever, by the tactics employed by any totalitarian system I've ever observed.

My disillusionment came from seeing moral and responsible people singing about love and peace and altruism and other things I believe in strongly , support nationalistic revolution and violence when it came to securing their organizations agendas. That left me, as a young kid with high ideals who was just getting into folk music, feeling a bit betrayed.

That's all I can tell you. It was how I felt. Hopefully, by hoping for the best while expecting anyone to do anything at any given time, depennding on the situation, I can be less amazed and/or hurt by whatever comes along the pike. That's possibly more Buddhist than anything else. So be it. Whatever.

It might be helpful to keep a certain organization in mind. It was one that Bruce Utah Phillips (the great man himself) once told me about. The organization was called Y. A. W. N.-------Those letters stood for Youth Against Whatever's Next. That just might be where the "one third of the people who are AGAINST EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME come from!!?? ;-)

Art Thieme