b'branch of the federal government, i.e., the President,duction mandate that has since crashed and burned, has a tremendous influence on the cost of energy, bothFord having lost almost twice the money on each F-150 through policy and through spoken word. Joe BidenLighting that they produced than the actual sale price and his fellow Democrats competed with each other toof the pickup.see who could demonize the fossil fuel industry more,As Democrats basked in the glory of their hatred of and who could come up with the fastest plan to kill it,thefossilfuelindustry,thoseearlyBidenmandates in the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries. that doubled the price of crude in less than a year were Unlike in 1901, when the biggest challenge of the wild- hardly painful for the producers. Profits lost to slow-catter was to actually find out where the oil was, in to- er production were more than made up by the soaring days era of space-age geological technology, the biggestprice per barrelpolicies designed to hurt oil produc-challenge is financial. At a cost of $2.5 to $5 million perers only served to further enrich them, at home and onshore well, any Democratic victory in the 2020 pres- across the globe. The disaster for the American econo-idential election was guaranteed to scare off investors inmy was a double blow: more of our budgets had to be the energy sectorespecially coming off the horrifyingspent on fuel and electricity, while the cost of every-year of Covid, during which a barrel of West Texas In- thing else spiked at the same time. For the two most termediate crude briefly sold on the world market fornotoriousinternationaltroublemakers,businesswas negative-$37.63, on April 20, 2020.better than ever, and funds were free-flowing to their While Bidens executive actions pausing drilling per- projects of shenanigans.mits on federal land and stopping the Keystone XLIRAN WAS A MOSTLY WESTERNIZED,progres-Pipeline from Canada to Texas were not devastating sive country that was a close ally of the U.S. under per-seto the oil and gas industry, they were seen asrule of the Shah, the royal Persian title of its monarch, the tip of the iceberg of the Democrats plan to carryMohammadRezaPahlavi,whowasoverthrownin out their Green New Deal promise to their political1979 by a band of mostly student militants committed base. While business and jobs were already recoveringto a strict, Islamic theocracy in control of the country. from Covid, and with it, a year of pent-up demand wasThe Islamic Revolution was brought to the center of being unleashed, 2022 saw all costs soar with gas pricesAmericans everyday lives after the U.S. Embassy in and inflation rising in unison.Tehran was overtaken by militants and 53 American Just when the country needed them most, investors inhostages were held for 444 days, forever blemishing the new drilling were scared off by Democrats promises toalready-floundering Carter presidency. kill off fracking and phase out all fossil fuelsthreatsIn the four decades since, the Islamic Republic of Iran made real when Biden signed an electric vehicle pro- has used its crude oil wealth, which accounts for more 48THECOASTALBENDMAGAZINE TheCoastalBend.com'