There’s obviously been a lot of terrible results from this pandemic, from the deaths to the lost jobs and savings, we’re going to be picking up after this one for awhile.

But some good has come from it, and we should take a minute to make sure we consider the lessons.

Suddenly, the people of the Midwest matter.

While we’re rightly grateful for the medical staffs that have been serving coronavirus patients, that’s a small number compared to the truckers, farmers, distribution center workers, and other citizens of the Midwest (and all over the country) who make this country work, day in, and day out. We’ve taken them for granted for too long.

Globalism nearly killed us.

OK, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. But if ever there was a concrete case for the idea of a world with borders and distinct cultures within those borders, this is it. Federalism works because local governments and citizens are best able to determine how they want their government to run. They also know best the distinct cultural nuances of what makes their town, city, county, and state different than others. And they have pride.

Apply this on a global scale, and you see we need the ability to restrict and be aware of who comes in and out of our country. Someday, a virus may start in the US, and I would expect we would try to prevent it from getting out of the country. In this case, we needed the ability to shut down our borders.

“Made in America” may mean something again.

As we are a nation of people with a specific set of beliefs and a unique culture, it’s very dangerous that we’ve allowed China, a nation who is hostile to our interests, own so much of our country and own so much of our manufacturing and production. I think everyone was surprised to learn just how many of our drugs and medicines are made in China. That’s a lot of power to give to a country who’s arguably at war with you.

Liberals trust authority, but conservatives don’t.

It wasn’t that long ago that liberals used to proudly display their “Question Authority” bumper stickers. Not so much, anymore. It’s been stunning to see how much liberals listen, without question, to what the Democrat media tells them. They’re fine with no other sources of news beyond mainstream. Meanwhile, skeptical conservatives have been searching for alternative sources to satisfy all of the questions that the mainstream media isn’t asking or answering.

Our national culture is gone.

America was the land of the free and the home of the brave. It looks like decades of Democrat public school indoctrination, with no trace of civics instruction, may have finally taken its toll. Throughout the pandemic, Americans proved to be timid and passive. It has taken three months for some citizens to finally have had enough. America was built on taking fearless risks and meeting challenges head on, knowing that death is part of life. A lot of citizens simply don’t recognize their country right now.

Our nation is divided.

OK. That one we knew. But we’re finding out now just how deep it goes. No one trusts anyone. No one listens. And people of all sides have gotten way too comfortable in their echo chambers. If Americans don’t figure out how to discuss what we want, as a country, and how to make it happen, we’re finished. (Or, someone’s gotta go.)

Enforcing immigration laws matter.

People may think that having illegal immigrants crossing our borders right now is a bad thing, but the fact is, they’ve already reintroduced diseases like small pox, which had already conquered, back into our country. No one is against immigration. Conservatives are against ILLEGAL immigration. Because, you know… it’s illegal… for a reason. Legal immigration gives us the opportunity to meet and know who we’re allowing into the country, but also gives us a chance to assimilate them into American culture.

Our experts, our media, and our government can’t be trusted.

There’s enough evidence to suggest that everyone involved in reporting, informing, or making policy for this pandemic appears to have an agenda. And if they don’t, no one trusts them, anyway. Why would we? It’s not that they’ve lied, so much as they’ve prevented alternative sources of information from consideration.

There are drugs, like hydroxychloroquine, that are being used in some countries. Our leadership pretty much censored it. As they did with stories of Sweden’s approach to the pandemic, studies out of Stanford and Los Angeles, building herd immunity, that hospitals are furloughing doctors and nurses because they’re sitting empty, and countless other stories which run counter to the media’s doomsday agenda.

We may be at war with China.

It’s not the traditional war, fought with weapons. But make no mistake, China would like to take us down, and whether or not it was on purpose, this pandemic almost did it. (Or, it may have.) President Trump was right to sound the alarms on China 20 years ago, and we’d be stupid to ignore them, going forward.

There are a lot of lessons to come from this pandemic. I just hope we’re all able to stop and listen.