Z, speaking in foreign: What changes would you make in the United States if you were President? (This is designed to elicit use of the conditional tense.)
Students, speaking in foreign: We would abolish the distinction between church and state.
This happened, yes.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
No, no, no. I don’t want to believe this happened. The best thing about this country, the central foundational principle, and they want to get rid of it???
I’m sorry, but these students are total idiots who have no understanding even of what the relationship of the president is to the constitution. They think he can just walk around abolishing the constitution? Oy vey.
I now understand the depth of your suffering in that place.
They also think the President can change municipal traffic laws by decree.
At an emotional level conservative Southerners seem to believe the president has much more power than he does. They expect a Latin American style caudillo, because caudillos are what authorities are here. Look at the governing style of Gov. Piyush “Bobby” Jindal.
It is definitely why I do not want to deal with students in the lower division courses in the fairly intimate way one does in FL teaching, and it is why people do not like to teach English composition: you have to read these opinions.
But the depth of my suffering isn’t about that, I don’t *think* — it is about being governed by people who are like this.