Folk music is not a bird.

Folk music has many different facets - it all depends on which community and style you are looking at.   

Songs are products of the writer. It is not a commercial venue that will form the song, it is the life and observations of the writer.

Conrad keeps harping on "one brain" and "one sided", but the reality becomes obvious to anyone who reads these posts - Conrad is the one who has focused on one side.

Folk music NEVER lost it's issues. If Conrad truly had been paying attention during the Reagan years, he would have discovered a surge in protest songs that surpassed the output of the 1960's - and the trend continues today.   The conservative media may not give everyone access to these songs.

Conrad is tap dancing on a fence and does not realize that there is solid ground on both sides. Conrad is looking at the world in his own reality, and he does not grasp that the reality the rest of us live in are exactly the opposite of what he is claiming.

The sky is not falling. The music is not being "hurt". The music exists for what it is. It does not exist for the purposes of being scrutinized by critics like Conrad- it exists as an expression of the artist.   Conrad suggests a censorship of the artist view when he suggests "balance".   Balance only comes from the artist.   

The playing field is level, what they players do on it is their choice.