With the invasion of Ukraine, the world witnesses (again) the result of Authoritarianism, when a decision by one person can potentially destroy a country and sadly, the world. \xa0 As an artist, one has to make a decision on how to confront such evil.\xa0 Songwriters in the past have written songs that have taken evil head on.\xa0 The great Woody Guthrie wrote "Talking Off Hitler's Head Blues" and had a sign put on this guitar, THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS. \xa0 The guitar, the song obviously couldn't kill Hitler, but it has the power to sway minds and hearts.\xa0 Political music is inevitable and can be used by all sides in a conflict to help sway the masses.\xa0 Telling artists that they cannot write political songs is like telling the wind not to blow.\xa0 And when artists get political, it is difficult to separate the artist's work from the artist.\xa0 As an artist, my mission is to bring people together through my music.\xa0 If I have something to say that could be construed as political in nature, my tendency is to present it without judgement or accusation.\xa0 It is a tall order in today's "knock you down" world.\xa0
The other part of this podcast has to do with addressing our own collective guilt with Ukraine.\xa0 The fact that our world has been permissive with authoritarians is something that we all take part in whether we like it or not.\xa0 Xi Jinping, an authoritarian, has publicly declared he wants to make the democratic country of Taiwan "part of China", much like Putin maintains Ukraine is historically Russian.\xa0 Martin uses himself as an example of when he purchased lights for his backyard.\xa0 He bought lights through Amazon that of course were made in China.\xa0 If we wish to fire a bullet at authoritarianism, it has to start in our own backyards.\xa0 Purchasing democratically made goods and the practice of civility and voting for civility-minded leaders are three necessary steps in the war on Fascists and Authoritarianism.\xa0
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