It looks to me like there are two different questions here. Are we all people? and Are folk musicians generally left-wingers? I don't really see the connection between the two.

On the Us/Them question: It is really too complicated to sum up in a sentence. Yes, we are all people, with many, many common concerns. In that way, there is no us and them. When you start talking politics, however, there are definitely us and them. People who start wars, discriminate against gay folks, deregulate business to the point where they are allowed to ruin our lives and our environment, or insist that everyone around them conform to their religious ideas are definitely "them" to me. I don't see any reason why I should lump myself together with folks who are violent, unethical, greedy, and want to tell me how to live my life. My general response to them is "LEAVE ME ALONE!"

When it comes to music, if they aren't trying to tell me what or how to play, I'll sit and jam with anyone and have a great time doing so. People who mix politics in with their music are being political, not musical. Or at least the politics are more important than the music. There have been lots of political songs written from both the left and the right, and I usually don't like any of them.

If the idea of this thread is that folkies are mostly left wingers, Democrats, liberals, or whatever, I don't care. That's a gross generalization, and only applies to people who think the political message of their song is more important than the musical nature of the song.

As for whether or not right wingers are welcome at Mudcat, why shouldn't they be? If we're talking about music, their politics don't matter. If we're on a political thread below the line, of course there will be arguments. But I don't see that having anything to do with making or talking about music.