U.S. midterms: the return of Jim Crow America

 U.S. midterms: the return of Jim Crow America

OPINION BY : GHK LALL November 2026

Looking on at the U.S. midterms, and there are all these moves that have thwarting at best, or cheating at worst, in the DNA.  First point: if this is the U.S. the straight arrow, and there are these shenanigans-Supreme Court accommodations, State subterfuges, Federal deviousness-then how much should the U.S. be regarded as the standard where honest and trustworthy elections are the challenge?  Second, and more importantly, how can Guyanese, even those as dirty as the PPP, look to the U.S. to help this country arrive at a credible election machinery, with results to match?

U.S. midterms, long before a vote was cast, reminds me of Third World countries, where electoral skullduggeries reign supreme.  Redrawing, repositioning, reasoning, and rehearsing are of what pertained in Africa, Latin America, and Guyana.  Happened before here; still do today.  But this is the U.S. and what is prevalent is bankruptcy at the leadership level, inside judicial heights, and around State government calculations.  Every advantage is sought.  Nothing wrong, other than the rationales and the means.  Nothing on the extreme ends, other than Alaska, Mississippi, and Tennessee, to name some. 

It is 21st Century America, and it’s back to Jim Crow country.  For Guyanese who aren’t familiar, Jim Crow is best presented this way: voters that are kept outside the ballot box; voters that are reeled into the voting programs.  Compliments of an army of rabid racists and arch segregationists in control of many State voting machines.  Even Putin and Modi are filled with envy.

My disgust is that a country that condones, even inspires such duplicities, is still allowed to lecture Guyanese about clean elections, and doing them right.  No slimy considerations on one side; no solid concerns on the other.  Something doesn’t add up in this kind of U.S.-Guyana electoral partnership.  Frankly, I’m past next week’s voting in the U.S.  The bigger concern is the aftermath.  There could be a war, more than the usual skirmishes.  Who will claim cheating?  Who will concede?  I foresee some spots of trouble, to put it mildly.

A plan, a groundwork, has been thought through, refined, and more now rolled out.  Pretty, it will not be.  The party in the White House has traditionally taken a licking in the midterms.  Not always; but when the incumbent is the closest thing to paranoia, dementia, and hysteria, those are enough incentives to depart, and cast lots for the other side.  The economy is a problem, despite more cooperative personnel, helpful system fixes, and stats that rise and fall.  Prices are an open sore.  They keep boring a hole, continue burning.  The war in Iran is now less of a war, and more of a swamp.  It has to rub voters the wrong way. 

Further, there’s some generalized discontent, I think, with moral bankruptcy, ethical bankruptcy, and bankruptcy of principles at the peak of America’s pyramid.

It’s not limited to dangerous politicians.  Think of the judiciary.  Think some more: ever come across a judiciary so thoughtful, so helpful, and full of what’s flushed down the pipes?  It’s almost as in the days of Dred Scott, Emmitt Till, and Plessy vs. Ferguson.  New ways are found to lynch coloreds, none as much as Black Americans.  Separately, U.S. midterm developments could shorten the rope given to corrupt PPP Govt officials, mostly politicians.  Airports on the alert.  The State Dept and Justice Dept called to book and made to look less than they are now.  Guyana would still be prominent in American interests.  But with all the decay in the U.S., the outlook for Guyanese on the take may not be as smooth as now, with U.S. government agents bought or sold.

Closing thought: I have difficulty listening to the American ambassador to Guyana speaking brightly about democracy and governance in Guyana, when both are so rotten Stateside.  Post midterm: what will it be?  Revenge, reconciliation, or restoration.