Pandemic is no culture war

Re “Biden just dialed up the pandemic culture war,” Opinion, Sept. 14

Jonah Goldberg suggests that President Biden has adopted a “never exit” strategy of government regulation that fosters exhaustion and polarization, thus intensifying a culture war.

Perhaps he has forgotten that about 418,000 Americans died in World War II, 37,000 died in Korea, 58,000 died in Vietnam, 4,500 died in Iraq, and 2,200 died in Afghanistan. In all, about 520,000 Americans died in these years-long wars.

The COVID-19 pandemic is not even two years old, and in the U.S. almost 670,000 people have died. It is a very real war that some have chosen to make a culture war.

Maybe winning this war without too many more dead will require us to handle a little frustration and government regulation. Maurice M. Garcia

Newbury Park

Just as we get word that the U.S. will soon become the least vaccinated wealthy nation in spite of a high stockpile of doses and a huge head start, Goldberg faults Biden for not having a pandemic exit plan.

It’s akin to setting a building on fire, preventing firefighters from extinguishing it, then criticizing said firefighters as the blaze rages out of control.

To those of us whose vision is not clouded by culture war smoke, Biden’s pandemic exit plan has been clear all along: Get the shot, and we can put most of the pain, suffering and death of this pandemic behind us. Mark Van Leeuwen

Newhall