Where is this generations Mark Twain, Roy Rogers, Arlo Guthrie, Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan?

Every generation tends to produce a voice, a guiding spirit that calls us back to basic American principals and values. A voice that reminds us just who we are above the din of politics and pop culture. They remind us not of the values that politicians talk about, the ones used to divide, use to get elected, but the American values that make us uniquely American and make this country great. Stuff like everyone having a chance to make it, the importance of the average working Joe, accepting people for who they are and what talents they bring, and all that warm fuzzy stuff about accomplishing more together as a united country that we can ever accomplish as individuals.

A lot of people come to mind when you think about these unique voices. There's the common folksy wisdom of Mark Twain, the cowboy sense of Roy Rogers, and in more troubled days the voices of reason in unreasonable times like Arlo Guthrie and Bob Dylan.

Now I'd like to think that there's always these people out there, talking truth, especially truth to power and truth to what is obvious crazy talk. It just seems that when America is ready for that voice, it rises to be heard. Yet where is that voice today?

But let us look at the obstacles today for these voices to be heard. First, there's the overly commercial aspect of music, writing, and movies, today. In a world of The Jonas Brothers, Molly Cyrus and Lady Gaga, how would today's Bob Dylan ever get heard? In today's struggling publishing world, how would a poet like Jack Kerouac ever get anything published when he has to compete against biographies of Sarah Palin? Then in movies, when the only sure bet in the industry is a blockbuster sequel how does that one thought provoking, mind changing story get distribution, much less made. Hollywood would have us believe that we're all just going to the movies for pure escapism, yet that's denying the power of the medium.

Yet lets place some of this blame on the artist themselves, where aside from a handful of artists, no one is willing to use their power to really promote social good over sales. The same could be said of musicians, artists, and even that usual wellspring of social consciousness - writing.

There are serious obstacles today to voices of dissent. One might think the logical place to look would be the web, that the next voice of a generation might be blogging away even as we speak, yet, the web, like cable news is increasingly a polarizing force where like minded individuals gather to commensurate and talk only to other like minded individuals.

So though I assure you that great voice is out there, how do we hear it? Even if we're of a mind to seek them out, where do we even look?