Seven Layers of Heaven.

For years I have pined for the 7-Layer Burrito. Taken too soon, it was a perfect beacon of flavor. A complete protein, as any vegetarian teen’s mom would tell you, combined with rich sour cream, tangy guac, melty cheese, crisp lettuce, and juicy tomatoes, all lovingly wrapped in a soft tortilla blanket.

And all those component parts are still there, sitting idly in their stainless steel kitchens. You just have to reassemble them! But my pleas fall on deaf ears.

For no reason other than corporate caprice. For no reason other than KPIs. To preserve a profit margin apparently so thin that it cannot cover the cost of including one more menu item on a digital menu screen. 

America, too, is being picked apart, its component parts hurled to the wind. “All the pieces are still there,”we cry. “Congress just has to do their jobs! You just have to pay the FDA scientists to test the milk! You just have to let the Social Security administrators sign the checks!” But our pleas fall on deaf ears.

For no reason other than political vengeance. For no reason other than ketamine-addled madmen trying to bring about the Tech Apocalypse.

People will say I’m being overdramatic. “They DO still have all the ingredients. All you have to do is order a Burrito Supreme minus beef, onions, red sauce and cheddar, then add 3-cheese blend, seasoned rice, sour cream, and guacamole! Or get a bean burrito minus cheese, onions, and red sauce, then add guacamole, lettuce, 3-cheese ble-“

DO YOU HEAR YOURSELF? This is madness!

For want of 15 characters on the (digital!) menu, we must execute this complicated dance? At a price of over $7?!? With all the attendant opportunity for human error if the order isn’t made right? And even when these instructions are followed to the letter, the result is never quite right. Never quite a 7-Layer Burrito. Not really.

It remains to be seen whether American democracy can be reassembled with its component parts. Can you mechanically reinsert human beings at these desks, laws in these books? Can you rebuild diplomatic relationships simply by putting sane people back in your embassies? In your Congressional seats? In your Oval Office?

I do not want a Burrito Supreme, customized beyond all recognition. I want the 7-Layer Burrito I was raised to believe would always be there. 

I don’t want to Make the Burrito Supreme Great Again. I want the 7-Layer Burrito I was promised, and which was so cruelly and capriciously ripped from my hands.

No matter how carefully, how lovingly these flavors are reassembled, how delicately wrapped in their tortilla, we all know they are not a 7-Layer Burrito. And America minus freedom of speech, due process, or a stable economy, with added masked enforcers, extraordinary rendition, and racist violence, is not America, however many Poli Sci 101 terms are used to pretty it up. 

America was never perfect. But making it worse does not get us nearer to our goals. Like Taco Bell serving chicken nuggets, we have lost our way. The world already has enough KFCs, Chick-fil-As, autocracies and oligarchies. Once upon a time, we made a run for The Border - and we can do so again! But the only ICE that greets us should be the cold cubes in the Pepsi machine, waiting to chill our Baja Blast. 💜🌯