To me the most interesting part of the song, as a non-American, is its criticism of 'manifest destiny' and 'the white man's burden'. All of this has since been reprised in what I consider a far superior song, Long Road Out Of Eden (to me that song has a great deal more global resonance). First the settlers powered their way to California and even though they may have 'spoke about the red man's ways' they pushed them out of the way. Then the missionaries went one step further to Hawaii to 'finish the job' on the native people there, if you like. No doubt many if not most of them had good intentions but the phrases quoted above cannot be denied.

The part of the song which best sums this up is:

We satisfy our endless needs
And justify our bloody deeds
In the name of destiny
And in the name of God

As LROOE shows, this has happened throughout history, and has been done by all 'empires', not just the United States.