In “Reconciling the Pandemic With the Nation’s Self-Image,” her left-wing essay disguised as news in Wednesday’s New York Times, culture reporter Jennifer Schuessler used an ill-concealed gloating tone, as if the pandemic, which caught the whole world (except China) off guard, is the final blow to naive Reaganesque pride in American uniqueness: ....others see the crisis as the outgrowth of an exploitative system that leaves everyone fending for themselves."