by Curmudgeon
Here in Chaffee County, we’re feeling the pain at the pump. Regular gas in Colorado is now running around $4.00 a gallon, up sharply in recent weeks as tensions in the Middle East disrupt oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz. For ranchers hauling feed, families driving over the passes, small businesses, and anyone heating a home or buying groceries in Salida or Buena Vista, those extra dollars add up fast. Before we all start cursing the situation, perhaps we should pause and send a thank-you note to President Trump. He appears to be delivering on one of the Democratic Party’s long-cherished climate goals: making gasoline and fossil fuels significantly more expensive. For years, prominent Democrats told us that higher energy prices were not a bug, they were the feature. Pain at the pump, they argued, would discourage consumption, force behavioral change, and accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels! Now that we’re getting a real-world dose of that medicine, some seem surprised and upset. How… inconvenient. Let’s revisit a few of their greatest hits:
Barack Obama, discussing his cap-and-trade plan: “Under my plan… electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket… That will cost money. They will pass that money on to consumers.”
Steven Chu, Obama’s Energy Secretary: “Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.”Joe Biden in 2019: “I guarantee you, we’re going to end fossil fuels.”
Kamala Harris on the need for aggressive climate action: “We need a price on carbon so that polluters pay and we accelerate the transition.”
John Kerry, as Biden’s Climate Envoy: “The world must largely end the use of fossil fuels.”
Pete Buttigieg during his presidential run: “We need to make fossil fuels more expensive so that clean energy becomes the default choice.”
Nancy Pelosi on cap-and-trade legislation: “This legislation will make fossil fuels more expensive… That’s the point — to drive investment into clean energy.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, co-author of the Green New Deal: “We must transition off of fossil fuels entirely.”
These weren’t offhand remarks. They reflected a consistent policy vision: use higher prices, regulations, and phase-outs to make traditional energy less attractive and economically viable. The theory was that Americans would drive less, heat differently, and buy different vehicles if the old way became painful enough. Well, mission accomplished, at least in the short term, at least on the painful part. Global events have delivered the price signal many Democrats once cheered. Yet suddenly, the same voices that wanted energy to cost much more are treating the current spike as an unexpected crisis caused by Trump’s poor planning. I am starting to think they hate what President Trump does, even if they used to support it with every fiber of their being…
In rural Colorado, we don’t have the luxury of abstract theory. When diesel climbs, so does the cost of everything that gets trucked into our communities. When winter heating bills rise, fixed-income families and seniors feel it first. Tourism season, ranching operations, and daily commutes don’t pause for climate lectures. If higher energy prices were always the plan to force the great transition, then Democrats should own the results with the same enthusiasm they showed when it was just talk. If the pain is now unacceptable, perhaps it’s time to reconsider whether deliberately making reliable American energy more expensive was ever the smartest path for working families across Colorado. Maybe it’s time for policies that prioritize abundant, affordable domestic energy instead of hoping higher prices will magically solve our problems.
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