Tucker Carlson on the Fox News Channel had an interesting opening monologue last night.  Basically, he said that both political parties are, to say it politely, distorting the truth about the Coronavirus epidemic.  The Democrats are saying that the Trump administration has not done enough to protect Americans from the possible Pandemic. They propose what they always propose.  More federal government control and spending.  Throw money at it, and it will go away.  That solution never works, but then again: “Never let a crisis go to waste!” Right?   The Republicans are saying “Calm down.  Don’t blow this out of proportion.  We’ll handle it”. 

Both sides are partially correct.  We must have additional government intervention and spending.  The question is, how much, and on what?  The “Globalist” policies, most recently advanced by the Obama administration, but dating back to Nixon, Carter, Bush 41, Clinton and Bush 43, have allowed critical materials and manufacturing to flow out of our country, and into that of an avowed enemy, China.  Greed on the part of American corporations may prove to be our undoing.

Most troubling of all is the fact that something over 90% of the antibiotics sold in this country are apparently manufactured in China, and the Chinese Communist Party is already making noises about restricting all of them for domestic use.  That could create an almost instant pandemic around the globe, particularly in this country.

So, beyond manufacturing more test kits to determine who is infected, we must immediately institute measures to reopen pharmaceutical manufacturing plants capable of producing those vital medicines here inside our borders where we cannot be held hostage by China or anyone else.  We must go on a war footing similar to what was instituted by the Roosevelt administration after December 7, 1941.  In a few short months, factories which had been producing passenger cars in Detroit were converted into aircraft and tank production.  The great “Arsenal of Democracy” was created, which helped us and our allies defeat the Axis Powers in less than four years time.  We must rekindle that spirit.

If the Chinese resist our efforts to bring these vital facilities home, so be it.  Trump’s vision of  “America First” has proven to be exactly right, and it took the Covid-19 virus to underline that point.  Not only must we have secure borders, but we must be able to protect ourselves from any threat, be it so small as a microscopic virus strain.  By doing that, we can also protect our allies from intimidation by nations like China, whose ultimate goal is to bring us to our knees by any method necessary.

Not to do so makes us reminiscent of the person whistling in the dark, to ward off the terrors possibly lurking in a graveyard as they walk by at night.