Yes there is a place for pros but it is not at the top of the food chain but further down than it is now.

This is pure drivel. What on earth do you mean by the "food chain"? People rise to the top because through good musicianship they gain the respect of audiences, who want to see them perform (and are willing to pay to do so) and want to buy their records. The best musicians are likely to be professional (either on a full or part-time basis), but they're not good musicians because they're professional , they're professional because they're good musicians. No one is going to pay to listen to someone who doesn't achieve a certain standard of musicianship, and for them to pay enough to earn a living you need to be pretty damn good.

Professionals are at the top of the food chain because only those at the top can earn enough to be professional.

You're very concerned about spreading folk songs wider, but you don't seem to realise that it is the professionals who actually do this. Virtually all the songs and tunes I know I've learned from a professional, either directly from their recordings and books, or indirectly from someone else who themselves learned it from a professional. It is mostly the professionals, who are under commercial pressure to add to their repertoires, who spend time in libraries going through original collections to find new material, who work it into shape, and popularise it through their performances. Without the professionals to spread them around, most folk songs would be known only to a handful of people.