Back in the 50s, folk music emerged as the 500 pound gorilla of the industry. New wave groups such as Peter, Paul and Mary and the Kingston Trio came to prominence with concert audiences and through records. And old-timers (even then) such as Pete Seeger could draw thousands to college campus venues. Even with the fast approach of rock 'n' roll, folksters enjoyed a revival of immense proportions.

As always happens, what goes up, etc. Today folk music maintains a sturdy presence, although the fracturing into strict categories has been harmful. Gadfly Records promotes the hell out of folk music, to its everlasting credit. The tiny company which operates from a post office box in Burlington, Vt. consistently produces wise, witty, weird and wonderful examples of today's folk music.

Deborah Holland once was lead singer and songwriter of Animal Logic, a trio founded by ex-Police drummer Stewart Copeland and jazz bassist Stanley Clarke. With Animal Logic, Holland recorded two albums that won critical respect with the group's eccentric mix of pop, folk, rock, country and jazz.

Holland has been a solo act since 1994, when she released "Freudian Slip." Three years later, Gadfly released her album, "The Panic is On: Songs from the Great Depression."

Her new album consists of original material. "The Book of Survival" (Gadfly Records). Holland owns a clear voice that precisely enunciates each and every syllable, although you're not particularly aware of the eloquence of her voice.

By choosing her own songs, she has done herself a major favor. The baker's dozen of compositions is without a loser. Possessed of a delightful sense of humor, Holland does wicked things with the charming "Pinochet and Margaret Thatcher," which depicts the former leaders sitting down for tea to discuss what might have been.

"I'm Sorry Now" closes with these lines,

I am striving for perfection
everybody's gonna love me
I could kiss my own reflection
there's a halo right above me
for any face I may have slapped
for balls I busted kicked right down the drain
my words and deeds were all controlled
by a chemical misfiring in my brain...

Or, take this, from the albums final song:

Happy Birthday, youre turning 40
you're discovering it feels different than 30
you've been makin' mental checklists
of things you meant to do and see
its the same list that you had at 23...

Warren Beatty gets a big laugh during the film "Bulworth" by pointing out that Americans dread the word "Socialism." The audience laughs in order to show that it's "hip" enough to get the joke. But the joke is really on Socialists because everyone knows that most people in the United States *don't* understand socialism, and those who do tell the Socialists to tone it down for fear of provoking greater repression from the ignorant. Everybody plays to the segment of the political audience occupying the Babbit seats. It's a lose-lose situation all around.

Americans, fearing ideas they don't understand, never get the benefits of the social democratic reforms which grace other industrialized societies and Socialists are relegated to obstructing street corners and passing out newspapers that nobody ever reads because their too irritated.

Some people think I'm a Socialist, but I'm not. I'm a Radical. I'm a radical thinker, a radical philosopher and a radical futurist.

While I take common cause with many of the changes Socialists would like to see occur, I consider them too tame in their attitudes towards Government and Business. Government has effectively been run by Business here in the United States for the last twenty-five years, as far as I'm concerned. So I feel safe in asking the Reagan question, "Are we better off?" The answer: Well, no. Among the reasons I can provide the negative response:

• Our educational system is a recognized disgrace.
• Our roads are full of pot-holes.
• Our health care system is so bad that even Congress can now see that allowing the people to sue the HMOs responsible for managing it is a stop-gap measure against disaster.
• We support the second largest prison system on the planet.
• It's no longer our postal workers who become disgruntled and resort to mass murder, it's our children.

You don't have to be a radical to see that these are symptoms of a society in need of fundamental changes, not just "programs" or "plans," but it helps.

Non-radical politics is always big on programs, plans, and policies meant to tinker with the gears on the run-away train while completely ignoring that the hand-brake is there and the passengers would probably be grateful to get off.

So as America enters another election season, lots of programs, plans and policies are being put forward by people who --- under normal circumstances --- we would not have run our car wash or planning our summer vacations, but are willing to consider for leadership of the "Free World."

If you doubt this last statement, let's do a quick resume-scan, shall we? Let's see:

• We have a guy who can't deny being a cocaine abuser and won't tell us when that was. This is the man who has raised the most money in the shortest amount of time in the history of U.S. presidential politics...