Friday, March 23, 2012

Lessons in History from John Key

So there we were. Basking in yet another Governmental meltdown and the Prime Minister John Key was saying we didn't need a Commission of Inquiry. We should all put the Nick Smith crisis behind us and move on.

Forget about the prospective embarrassment for his Government and the way in which a supposedly intelligent minister over-rode advice and the Cabinet Manual.

Forget about the balls-ups which seem to flow regularly from the Accident Compensation Commission? (There are times when it does seem appropriately named when so many 'accidents' emanate from it).

Not likely. But how would the world have advanced with the Keysian (the play on words is deliberate in these economically troubled times) notion that such matters should be forgotten about so that everyone could get on with their lives? (Notice how I managed to avoid the use of 'moving forward' that peculiar choice of words which seems to have forgotten the existence of words like in the 'future').

Never mind that's another blog.

But imagine Key on the steps of the Nuremburg Court House at the end of World War Two?

"Yes, there have been 50 million deaths, and we are very sorry about that, but that's behind us now, it's time to look ahead and strive for a better world.

"There's little point in raking over old coals."

Or, in Phnom Penh, after the uncovering of Pol Pot's evil in Cambodia?

"Well there have been millions displaced, perhaps even murdered. But really we should put all that behind us now. Kampuchea, er sorry, Cambodia has such a rich history it will rise again.

"Now, about those piles of skeletons over there."

Or even New York on September 11, 2001, or September 12 if you lived in New Zealand?

"Well yes, there has been some inconvenience created in the downtown area of New York, and Wall Street will be out of action for a few days, but really, once the dust has settled I am sure we can begin to resume normal lives and not look to waste billions of dollars in attempting to sort out the perpetrators of these deeds."

Perhaps the PM thinks he won such an overwhelming mandate from the NZ public on the need to disregard the Cabinet Manual, or in a worst case scenario - plain commonsense, that he can adopt the Churchillian philosophy of history treating him well because he intends to write, or rewrite, the history.

Er sorry, Winston Churchill he ain't and in a second term only a month or two old, his attempts to put the present behind him could actually result in the past outrunning the future.