During the Cold War, when Pete Seeger coaxed classrooms full of kids to join him in folk songs, no one saw America’s “singing left” as much of a political threat… more»

http://www.firstthings.com/article/2009/12/where-have-all-the-lefties-gone

My take: Folk music isn’t just about or having risen out of politics which seems to be the major crux of this article. Its a very finely written article about the folk music with a lot of salient points to it that folk music lovers will appreciate.