NEVER AGAIN

NEVER AGAIN

How many times have you heard after some tragic event some politician say they want to investigate to make sure this never happens again?  I thought so.  As Dr. Michael Osterholm said on TV:   Americans are good about pumping the brakes after the car has wrapped around the tree—or words to that effect.  

Can you think of a time when a congressional investigation with public hearings, etc., actually came up with a solution to the never again event?  We’ve had a multitude of commissions, investigations, that have prompted stark commentaries and, in the end, often accomplished little.  Case in point:  The Kerner Commission, formed in 1967 as a result of the race riots that had gripped the nation.  A key finding:  Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—separate and unequal.  55 years later can we say there’s been improvement?  Witness the outpouring of demonstrations after the killing of George Floyd.  The 9/11 Commission that was formed after the attacks called for greater coordination among law enforcement agencies.  Has this happened?  We got an umbrella agency—Department of Homeland Security—that was formed to allegedly coordinate law enforcement and provide better domestic security.  Are we more secure?  Maybe against foreign attacks but witness the threat of internal domestic terrorists that stormed the Capitol of January 6.

No doubt the Capitol attacks will result in hearings to make sure they never happen again.  There will be much hand wringing an pontificating, but in the end we’ll see what comes of it.  A cynic would say “not much”.  What do you bet there will be more money for fences, security guards, and the national guard?  How much do you think there will be real action to counter the white supremacy groups, the followers of Q, and similar organizations that is the root cause of civil unrest?  I don’t see those groups going anywhere soon, and indeed, they may be growing with the fertilizer of their conspiracy theories rampant on the internet.  Good grief.

In Poland they are prosecuting some researchers who are uncovering evidence that some Poles helped the Nazis round up Jews during WWII.  Apparently, it is against the law to show that Poles aided the Nazis in their nefarious mission.  This is an extreme example of a government bent on being the thought police, perhaps leading to Holocaust denial.  That couldn’t happen here, could it?  We’ve already seen things that many would say should never happen again.