New York Mayor Bill de Blasio rhapsodized over John Lennon’s “Imagine” at a press conference, while his city was being burned and looted by “protesters.”
In the aftermath of the Bataclan theater massacre a man set up a piano in a street in Paris and played the Lennon song. This was deemed inspirational.
I’ve always thought “Imagine” an intensely nihilistic song and wondered why anyone considers it uplifting. But the left (and people who don’t listen very carefully to the words) love it.
Here are its lyrics in full:
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace, you
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world, you
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
What this describes as anarchy.
The song was first released on an album in 1971, and since then much of its fantasy wish list has been incorporated into the standard agenda of the left: open borders, socialism (“Imagine no possessions. I wonder if you can.”), rejection of patriotism, and a post-religion society, where people live just for today.
The latest fantasy is a world without police.
There’s a growing group of dissenters who believe Americans can survive without law enforcement as we know it. And Americans, those dissenters believe, may even be better off without it.
The solution to police brutality and racial inequalities in policing is simple, supporters say: Just defund police.
It’s as straightforward as it sounds: Instead of funding a police department, a sizable chunk of a city’s budget is invested in communities, especially marginalized ones where much of the policing occurs.
The concept’s been a murmur for years, particularly following the protests against police brutality in Ferguson, Missouri, though it seemed improbable in 2014.
You get bloodied and robbed and whom do you call? The marginalized community center leader?
The terrible death of George Floyd at the hands of law enforcement in Minneapolis was a call to see that bad cops are fired before they can harm an innocent person. Police unions in the past have often made this difficult.
There are plenty of reforms that can be and need to be made to improve policing, but defunding the idea of defunding the police is gaining traction. Rep. Will Hurd outlines some possible reforms today in the Wall Street Journal.
Abolishing the police is basically anarchy. It would harm the poor more than the affluent. The same nihilism that made “Imagine” the anthem of anarchy is implicit in the move for a world without police.
I am sure John and Yoko, would have included abolishing the police if only they’d thought of it. It is becoming just as much of an agenda item as open borders. And it is just as injurious to normal, everyday citizens who need a lawful society in which to flourish.
I wish I could be fairly reassured that abolishing the police in many American cities would just stay there in the realm of “Imagine.”