ONE PLUS ONE EQUALS ZERO

Estanislao Contreras, the controversial poet of Chicano Fuck Songs, and Maclovio O'Malley, la Voz de los Vatos, sat on the empty deck at Cobbleheads Sunday afternoon and traded tequila. They could hear echoes of the past when Emilio Crixwell and Albert Besteiro would take the stage with their musical sidekicks. Where are the boys now when we're living the blues? Too much dying. Not enough laughing. The sky is crying.

Estanislao: Are Erasmo Castro and Carlos Elizondo running as a slate for the BISD board of trustees?

Maclovio: Erasmo has announced against Daniella Lopez-Valdez and Carlos is challenging Eddie Garcia. I'm not supporting either of them. One and one equals zero. Both had their chances and they blew them. Erasmo had to resign and Carlos was thrown out with the trash after he had been terminated as the city's fire chief. I listened to them on Erasmo's Brownsville Calls most recent show and they have nothing positive to say. Their rant that the super is stupid and that the board is corrupt and everything is bad, bad, bad is tiresome. In their commentary they are revealing that compromising with their fellow trustees is beyond their powers since they seem to have respect for nobody. We are in the middle of turbulent times and we don't need politicians who refuse to seek common ground because they insist that only they have the answers. Without a shared foundation, there can be no progress.

Estanislao: I like Erasmo. He's part preacher, part prophet, part populist and part demagogue, but he isn't a politician. He is a rabble rouser by nature. He needs to remain in this role. His strength is exposing the problems. His weakness is his inability to solve the problems. We want Trump out and Biden in because we're tired of the drama. Erasmo epitomizes drama. This is the reason he belongs in front of a camera breaking news and not behind closed doors exacerbating challenges.

Maclovio: What is your opinion of Carlos?

Estanislao: He may be the biggest piece of shit in Brownsville. He climbed the ranks of the fire department by backstabbing his own colleagues. Everybody knows that he brings nothing to the table. His lack of sincerity, his dearth of empathy and his paucity of common sense are common knowledge. How many times does he have to face felony charges before a community recognizes that Elizondo isn't worth a fuck? He simply thinks about himself and points his finger at everyone else rather than accepting the blame for his own outrageous shortcomings. Because we live in a volatile period, he realizes that a negative campaign feeding on people's fears could be a winning formula. He is incapable of thinking outside the box. He is a bully whose absence of tact precludes his capacity to cooperate with others. Bereft of subtle skills, he turns to intimidation whenever he feels threatened by opposing views.

Maclovio: If they were to win, we would have nothing but endless controversies punctuated by personal attacks. If we concede that Trump's incompetence has culminated in 160,000 deaths, five million Coronavirus cases, millions of our fellow Americans struggling to keep a roof over their heads and food in their mouths and widespread civil unrest, Castro and Elizondo in the same cynical manner as the perverted president would cut the superintendent's throat, sow seeds of discord among the administration, promote chaos, turn teacher against teacher, exaggerate the bad and understate the good as well as throw gas on any flame that flared anywhere.

Estanislao: I cannot embrace anyone who fills me with hopelessness. Erasmo and Carlos, particularly working together as hand and glove, are a depressing duo. They are manipulating our own insecurities in order to prevail politically. How could anyone have any confidence in the board if they were trustees? They have miserable records. Just like you know what you're going to get when you screw a 14th St. cantina puta without protection, you know that Erasmo and Carlos will spread a disease of desperation that will plunge the district deeper and deeper into despair and dread. Nobody, however, should underestimate them. But like Trump finagling a second term, if they win, we lose.