The lyrics to that song were a mixture of populist love of country, and a placing of massive blame for the economic decline in the '70s and early '80s on capitalism, the Viet Nam conflict, and class warfare. We all knew that Ronald Reagan had misunderstood Bruce's meaning when he praised the song. We forgave Reagan because he meant for us to heal after the war had torn this country apart.
The thing is, the people who did most the tearing were on the left, and Bruce was and is a part of that self destructive tendency in our country. He proved it with this comment.Got in a little hometown jam So they put a rifle in my hand Sent me off to a foreign land To go and kill the yellow man