I mentioned on twitter not long ago that if you didn’t understand the philosophical meaning of this song then we have nothing to talk about… It isn’t about living out in the sticks, it’s about an attitude, about a way life. It’s about being self-reliant, working hard, and making your own way world instead of living off the efforts of someone else. If you don’t understand that or don’t see the virtue in that, then we really don’t have anything to talk about.
“Americanism means the virtues of courage, honor, justice, truth, sincerity, and hardihood—the virtues that made America. The things that will destroy America are prosperity-at-any-price, peace-at-any-price, safety-first instead of duty-first, the love of soft living and the get-rich-quick theory of life.”
– Theodore Roosevelt