I've never thought of this song as advocating flag burning. Rather, as was mentioned earlier, I always thought of the proper way to dispose of a no-longer serviceable American flag, which is by burning. I think he's saluting what those ashes once stood for, amid all of the triviality and not caring that goes on today. The line that always strikes me is, "You know I would die if I could come back new," which leads me to believe that this isn't just about our country but ourselves, questioning what we've become since we didn't become our ideal. So he salutes the old flag and the old leaves