Fresno writer questions Americans’ resolve to win the war against coronavirus pandemic

“Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it is not enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even Hawaii and San Francisco. To make victory certain, we would have to march into Washington and dictate the terms of peace in the White House. I wonder if our politicians, among whom armchair arguments about war are being glibly bandied about in the name of state politics, have confidence as to the final outcome and are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices.”

— Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, January 1941

“I don’t think the economy is more resilient to COVID; unfortunately, I think our tolerance for death is much higher than we thought back in the spring when the pandemic took hold. If you would have told me that 3,000 Americans would be dying every day because of COVID, I would have told you all Americans would have been in a wartime posture to defeat this common enemy. This has not been the case, unfortunately.”

— Federal Bank of Minnesota President Neel Kashkari, January 2021.

Admiral Yamamoto commanded the Japanese fleet that attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

The U.S. was not prepared for war when the Japanese devastated the American military base in Hawaii. Yet, less than four years later, Japan surrendered after Americans marshalled amazingly sacrificial resolve to turn back an enemy that vowed to march to the White House.

Yamamoto’s chilling quote came to mind as I read the quote from Mr. Kashkari recently in the Wall Street Journal.

More than 450,000 Americans have died from COVID-19.

That’s as many Americans who died in the Vietnam War, Korean War, WWI and WWII combined.

And politicians, constitutionalists and my fellow Americans are arguing about wearing masks and whether vaccines are safe?

As many have said, American is now at war; however, Americans are not in anything close to a wartime posture.

Countless books have been written about Americans’ sacrifices in World War II and afterward. After the war was over, President Truman left soldiers overseas long after the war was over. Why? Because there was not enough housing, food, automobiles and other basic necessities to bring them back to the U.S.

American tenacity quickly turned from a war machine to successfully rebuilding an American peacetime economy to bring our men and women home.

Some historians contend Yamamoto’s quote was not boasting about what our enemy would do to the U.S. Rather he was rebuking his country’s politicians for playing politics, lacking the courage to face the realities of war.

In 2020 I did not see much leadership and resolve in politicians to truly face the threat of COVID-19. I am hopeful to see it in 2021.

However, blame for the plague that is ravaging our country cannot all be placed on politicians. Too many Americans are not listening to the medical professionals. We go to doctors for medical advice and cures, yet many ignore the unified voice of doctors on how to protect ourselves from COVID-19.

I was in a northeast Fresno hardware store recently. As I was checking out, a man in line behind me started yelling at a group of unmasked adults surrounding a store employee I assumed was the store manager explaining to them that masks were required to enter the store. The patron behind me loudly admonished them to wear masks to protect others. I regret not vocally joining my fellow, masked shopper.

I label this group as unpatriotic as conscientious objectors. Harsh? Perhaps. However, if adults like those in the hardware store had prevailed as the majority of Americans in 1941, I could only imagine who would be in the White House in 2021.