Though Dylan never claimed to be or wanted to be a spokesperson for the anti-war & civil rights movements of the 60's he was sort of drafted by the anti-establishment fronts because of his views, outlook & social comments in his songs. Many folkies are left leaning & many supporters that were against the war & for civil rights shared much in common in the 60's. He never took a formal stand, he only voiced better than most his feelings, that was his stand, how he as an individual felt about the issues of the day, it just happened that it was what many others felt but didn't or couldn't express them as well & he had the perfect medium to express it widely, in songs that would turn out to be carried far & wide. It was a voice that was looked for, needed & found. "Blowing In The Wind" was his questions, which happened to be the questions of so many others of his generation. He just was better at putting those questions into straight, simple & direct terms that they couldn't be ignored any longer espicially with that generation that was questioning so much of what had been 'the excepted'. It was a generation of questioning the norm, the excepted, the rule, the government, the rights & wrongs & the need for war. A friend of mine who later became a professer said to me that the older professers that taught during that generation said it was the best time of their careers, the kids questioned everything, they had to work to teack this generation & that tis generation wouldn't let anything go be without examination, nothing was taken for granted or excepted on face value.

Is it only that pigs can see the wind or that "we'll try to catch the wind" or that there are any answers that are 'blowing in the wind'? In order to make change one first has to see where change is needed & in order to see that one needs to question what exists. Slavery carried on here for better than 400 years. Why? Quakers questioned this & tried to bring attention to the plight of slavery.
IMHO that's all Dylan was doing with this song & the way he did it struck a nerve & a cord with a whole generation that was asking the same questions. BUt he asked the right questions & they were simplely put. In his "Masters Of War" he had already answered his own question of why & here he made his own statement in reply.

How this could be taken to represent a flag is also beyond me. The waving of the flag was questioned by most of that generation.

The world could well use another voice as clear & as in touch as his was back then, maybe with a bit more tonal quality this time but almost any voice will do.

Barry