Patriotism is a many splendored thing: It encompasses the individual need to be your own person and follow your bliss. To be a hobo or a free-spirit freeloader if you wish. To opt out of the damn capitalist money chase and choose, instead, to support your group and, in turn, be supported. To strive mightily to lean toward the good and to challenge the bad. To lean toward clear thought and away from wishful thinking in place of the clarity. To not abdicate the brains we are all born with. To get by without working---as in being a folksinger. (It was never a job--but it worked.) To get out there and feel the countryside and the humanity there and learn what you can as you experience worlds similar to the ones your mentors were drawn to. To not fly anywhere; to stay close to the earth and the people thereof. To learn from delving deeply into history and the story songs expressing aspects of that history that enlighten and shed valuable light on the sadness and numbing dumbing downward inertia that is powering things in these times.

And that's just some of it...

Art Thieme