We've got department stores and toilet paper

I see that the U.S. secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, took time on a diplomatic mission to Kyiv to play guitar and sing with a local bar band. I have no problem with that, but the song he was jamming on was Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World." Is he kidding?

It reminded me of when Reagan was using Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA" in his campaign, as some sort of celebration of the country. He must not have paid any attention to the lyrics – they are just the opposite.

And so it is with "Free World." It's a lament at how shallow America is. The speaker is rockin' to drown out his horror at what he sees around him in the United States.

There’s colors on the street
Red, white, and blue
People shuffling their feet
People sleeping in their shoes
There’s a warning sign on the road ahead
There’s a lot of people saying we’d be better off dead
Don’t feel like Satan, but I am to them
So I try to forget it any way I can

The song was written in the Bush Sr. years, when the crass selfishness of the Republicans had really ramped up. Of course, compared to the freak show that the party is today, it was a thousand points of light.

Anyway, Mr. Blinken, and you punk rockers in Ukraine, there's nothing to cheer about in that song. Somebody's missing the point.