RUSH: The LA Times just ran a long piece by Jody Rosen, calling for a new national anthem.

He notes that last month, San Francisco “protesters” pulled down the statue of Francis Scott Key in Golden Gate Park. Scott Key wrote the words to “The Star-Spangled Banner” that the left now calls racist. Besides, very few singers can do justice to the difficult tune. It’s a British melody anyway.

So the anthem has to go.

Now, what should replace it? Mr. Rosen claims that songs like “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and “America the Beautiful” are out of step with the 21st century. “This Land Is Your Land” doesn’t cut it either, Rosen says, because it insults indigenous Americans, even though it was written by Woody Guthrie, a big looney lefty. “Imagine,” by John Lennon, is another British song with “drippy utopianism.” Plus, Lennon was super-rich, so nobody buys his daydream of a world with “no possessions.” Because he would never get rid of his.

Well then what’s the perfect song that should replace “The Star-Spangled Banner”? Rosen proposes “Lean on Me,” by Bill Withers. Its message is: “I’ll take care of you, you take care of me.” Everybody knows it, and everybody can sing it.

This is the kind of story we would laugh at 20 years ago, but not anymore. This stuff can’t be laughed off. These people are dead serious. And don’t rule out that somebody of considerable weight is actually going to suggest this someday down the road.