Dear Editor,
The unending diatribes and antics of the man in the White House remind of a previous occupant of Guyana’s State House. There is the same incomparable rankness, the repeated delusional spells, and the disturbing paranoias that make lesser creatures not of just presidential perpetrators, but of all those unfortunate enough to have been part of the sweeps of madness.
I see it as the narcissism of the pigheaded and brain-drained; the world is against them. The world owes them more than regard, it owes the subservience of homage. They desire people to kowtow. These are leaders, who will play any card to get their way; and when that does not work, they then resort to the dirty and dangerous to intimidate into submission.
I am observing over there, just like I once paid attention here. There are strong elements of the unhinged at work, whether there or here. Strange how these cowardly commanders-in-chief at different times can invoke the ominous through degrading to the sinister; they are very skilled at selling what roils, and in attacking the jugular. Impeachment is threatened over there, and it has a fighting chance of moving a good distance, and the muscle flexing and instigations are in full swing. It is war; the bellicosity drills deeply in receptive hearts.
Strange how selective the cowardly can be: they steamroller over the weak and helpless. On the other hand, when sturdy opponents stand ground, there is retreating for the cover of conciliatory talk. Check the loud and swaggering, when they encounter immovable objects. Iran comes to mind. And so, too, does the DPRK. I dislike having to highlight those examples, as they are not on my Christmas card list. But who is the biggest bad man now? Who is controller and who is controlled, and beating (in the customary manner of loud cowards) a hasty retreat? Though the Democrats are a mostly uninspiring and rather pathetic bunch, they had better make a last stand now in an America that keeps losing what it has stood for from the inception.
In several contexts, and often for the sobriety of spirits and the discipline that goes with that, I am appalled at what passes for leadership at the highest levels. For certain, there are immense powers attached to the office of head-of-state. And correspondingly, I submit that there are heavy responsibilities that are integral to such heights. Men and women so depended upon, have an obligation to comport themselves in a manner that maintains the honour and prestige due to the standing of their office and, by extension, the dignity of their countries. It goes without saying that when national leaders make a living in the sleaze of the cesspool, they attract scorn and disgrace upon country and people. Prior ambassadors were compelled to articulate the same right here.
I readily acknowledge that there are occasions that demand sharpness; but even those must be modified by the appropriate temperateness and civil restraints. There can be impatience and bluntness, but there must never be crudeness and vindictiveness. I tender that this is what issues from 1600 Pennsylvania with such alarming regularity, that it has become reflexive second nature. And this applies for anything and everything, mostly the frivolous, and things that a president is best advised to leave alone. There was a precursor to the American equivalent here in Guyana a while back. Hair raising and bewildering, it was. At least for me, as I asked: surely, we could not have fallen so far, so fast, from the Guyana that I knew. Surely, the top could not be this immature and callow, as well as vacuous and limited. But it was. And I have seen some vulgar, lowdown conduct in this life.
Today, as we grapple with the raging confrontations that are our own, I urge one and all from leaders down (they must set tone, standard, and example) to deliver at a high level. I appeal to supporters to keep matters cool and considerate. In those ways, the much-needed conversations continue. Last, I exhort, the inner circle of seniors to manifest good sense to lean a little bit more on their captains, when things threaten to get out of hand. I think that all are better for this.
Yours faithfully,
GHK Lall
