In typically American fashion, as we have seen in crises from Pearl Harbor to 9/11, after initial shock and unpreparedness, the U.S. economic and scientific juggernaut is kicking into action. Where the West is deficient is in the current lack of imagination of its most hallowed institutions. Universities currently have hundreds of thousands of empty dorm rooms. Why not offer them as temporary refuges to the vulnerable homeless and poor? The media could better use its muckraking journalists to police itself. Any laxity in fighting the virus is not to be found with the U.S., but rather with its loudest and most opportunistic critics.

There have been attempts to pit Dr. Anthony Fauci, also a lead on the coronavirus team, against the president. What you don’t see or hear are suggestions that he doesn’t know what he’s doing, or is not in control of the choices he makes. No, that denigration is reserved by liberals for the woman on the team who is enjoying the respect of Americans and the president. The good news is Dr. Deborah Birx, and other Americans who have committed themselves to the health and well-being of this nation, remains steadfast and focused on her work. Getting to know her and all the heroes who continue to work securing our future has been inspiring.

Planned Parenthood’s doors are still open (in every state but Texas). Only a few states have had the courage to challenge the abortion giant. Its abortion clinic waiting rooms are likely aiding the spread of the coronavirus even now. Planned Parenthood is not an “essential” organization. It never has been. Indeed, when the organization was given the chance to aid the essential fight against a threat to public health with resources or assistance to overworked doctors and nurses, it chose instead to close its health centers and focus on aborting babies. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Planned Parenthood cares little about preserving human life.

Democrats may have more to gain from a postponement than Republicans. Now the Dems are endlessly complaining that Trump is monopolizing the airwaves with his daily press conferences on the virus that appear to have raised his approval ratings. These conferences would be in the rear view mirror. The Dems also would have an opportunity to reconsider their nominating process that appears to be yielding a candidate no longer really capable of holding office and unlikely to run a successful campaign. They might not even have to resort to the back room to maneuver this man into a graceful retirement and bring forth a new and better standard bearer.

Even if we had “listened to the scientists,” the United States wouldn’t have been able to avert the coronavirus. Expert predictions were all over the place, and very few researchers or scientists came close to calling the spread correctly. It’s impossible to be on a perpetual war footing, organizing and planning for every known emergency and eventuality at all times. Of course there is great room for improvement. Of course we should have more flexibility to produce ventilators or other emergency equipment. But it’s unrealistic for the public to expect there is any policy proposal or political leader that can immunize us from disasters such as this one.

Our leaders — elected and unelected — need to offer citizens clarity on what to expect. Putting up graphs of expected curves isn’t enough. The importance of building a pathway to a target date cannot be understated. That is the solution-oriented framework our economy needs, one which recognizes we are not a one-size-fits-all country for public health, economic concerns, or risk factors, but 50 states bound together, facing distinct and different challenges. We must give citizens confidence that as we get past the worst of this pandemic, the economy will reopen and rise toward a level that allows Americans to continue to work and thrive as a nation of free people.

When asked why he opposed so much of what went on in Washington, Coburn's answer was both thoughtful and succinct: "Power is like morphine. It dulls the senses, impairs judgment, and leads politicians to make choices that damage their own character and the machinery of democracy." The best way to honor Tom Coburn’s career and his memory would be to remind ourselves that when people like him do get elected to Congress, they deserve full-throated support. Many people grow up thinking that someone like the brave senator that Jimmy Stewart played in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington never existed. Tom Coburn was living proof that such people do serve in public office.