WE ARE NOT A GREAT NATION

The compadres gathered at Campero's in long, dark bar that is always quiet. It is a good place to take a movida without detection during the week. Golden State was playing and Durant, Curry, Thompson and Green were falling short of the Greatest Show on Earth.

"We will never be a great nation again, compadre, as long as we have that racist and misogynist as President. No great nation could give birth to such a bastard child."

"First and foremost, compadre, we have never been a great nation. Read history. Ask the Native Americans if we have been a great nation. Ask the African-Americans if we have been a great nation. Ask the Mexican-Americans if we have been a great nation. Ask women if we have been a great nation. We have been a great nation for a few rich white guys who have exploited us for their billions. When they talk about a great nation, it is in the fifties, sixties and seventies when dumb gringos could get a factory job with outrageous wages and benefits. For the WASPs there was a period of prosperity, but contrasted to our nation's existence, most of our citizens have suffered as they have struggled from week-to-week paychecks if they had jobs at all."

"Trump and his followers must feel that they are making their last stand at the Alamo surrounded by the dark hordes. I was brought up in an Irish Catholic family where half my relatives thought like JFK and the other half thought like the Grand Wizard. The latter hated black, browns, reds and any color that wasn't white. Those are Trump's people. Take a racist and make him rich and you have an ignominious ignoramus."

"And the gun fanatics!!! The NRA is no different than the KKK. I have no problems with an individual owning five pistols to protect his family in case of a zombie attack. He can own five shotguns, one each for quail, pheasants, doves, ducks and turkeys. He can have five rifles for deer, elk, boars, alligators and spouses if the worse half deserves a bullet between the eyes. But these assault weapons represent an extreme mentality."

"Do you see any hope for the future?"

"We will never be a great country. If we want to base our greatness on comparing ourselves to Mexico, we are only fooling ourselves. People argue freedom by contrasting ourselves to a totalitarian state and insist that we could not express ourselves in our manner if we were living in Russia. Freedom is freedom. Either you have freedom or you don't. Because a Chinese can't criticize his government and I can mine doesn't mean I have freedom. Freedom is never given; it is taken."

"So you have surrendered, compadre?"

"Until I am old and sick and at death's door, I will never surrender. Sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better. I am banking that most clear-thinking Americans are disgusted by Trump's attempt to divide the country and that a majority will unite and throw him and his henchmen on the trash heap of history. With Trump as President, not my President, I am not proud to be an American."

"At least he has ended political correctness so writers like you can express their shit. He has exposed the religious right for the hypocrites they are. These jihadist would vote for Satan if he outlawed abortion."

"Screw it, compadre. The beer is cold and the food is hot. If I didn't have that mad desire for a woman to satisfy my carnal instincts, I would be a happy man. Every woman thinks she possesses a gold mine, but in the end you discover that you are the victim of fool's gold. I don't give a damn about greatness."

"Great bar, compadre."

"It's my favorite, compadre."