My second theory is that this is a song about politics. The songwriter (Bob Seger) has radical views about politics and therefore was constantly having to "run against the wind." Others may find his political views overly idealistic and may not take him seriously. He portrays how much of an idealist he was in the beginning. Now he still holds on to those ideals but knows that he can no longer make as much of a difference anymore as he thought. He now keeps those political views to himself but still holds on to them very strongly.