During a May press conference with Japanese leaders in the White House, President Biden celebrated record-high gas prices, saying the pain at the pump was part of “an incredible transition” of the U.S. economy away from fossil fuels.
A few weeks ago, a New York Times reporter asked Biden how long he expects Americans to pay record-high gasoline prices over his administration’s Ukraine policy. “As long as it takes,”Biden replied.
Progressives love high gas prices. “[When] it comes to the gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over,” Biden said.
The president has repeatedly tried to deflect blame for the growing economic crisis by claiming Russia is solely behind our 9.1% inflation rate. At that same disastrous press conference, Biden said, “The reason why gas prices are up is because of Russia. Russia, Russia, Russia.”
Americans do not believe him. In a Rasmussen poll, only 11% of Americans believe Biden’s claim that Russian president Vladimir Putin is to blame for high prices.
And we disbelieve him for good reason. According to GasBuddy, average retail cost for regular gas was $2.34 per gallon when Biden took office. Gas was already at $3.50 per gallon the day Putin invaded Ukraine. By the time the U.S. banned Russian oil and other energy imports on March 8, gas had reached $4.30 per gallon.
Attempting to do some damage control the day following Biden’s disastrous press conference, Brian Deese, the director of Biden’s National Economic Council, was asked in a CNN interview, “What do you say to those families that say, listen, we can’t afford to pay $4.85 a gallon for months, if not years?”
Deese’s answer? “This is about the future of the liberal world order and we have to stand firm.” For the sake of this liberal world order, Americans are suffering under an inflation that we’ve not seen since 1981.
Their version of “liberal” is looking far less like the freedom that it supposedly means (from the Latin liber, meaning free), and a lot more like fascism. The Western “liberal” countries became oppressively authoritarian during COVID-19 with their extreme mask and vaccine mandates, seizing control of their citizens’ freedom to work, and disrupting the means of production and transportation until their economies were left crippled. The liberal world order, it turns out, is theAmerican empire.
What does it mean to be a part of the American empire? Consider Ukraine. While not technically part of NATO, Ukraine was brought into the American empire. Obama backed a coup there in 2014, overthrowing the government he didn’t like and putting in a government he did like. And voilà, they are part of the American empire.
Max Boot, a neo-con foreign policy talking head, said that “We need to understand that this isn’t their war in Ukraine — it’s our war — and we need to do more to defeat Russia’s attack on the West.” But Ukraine is in the East, not the West. However, in the liberal world order sense, Putin did invade America, if you think that America’s role is to be the world empire.
In the same vein as the ancient Roman Empire or the British Empire, the American Empire seeks to spread its influence and plant its flag all over the modern world, at the expense of its own citizens. The U.S. government has done a remarkable job of masking its hostile imperialism in diplomacy and relief aid. But anyone who knows history knows that citizens can only support this kind of government for so long before they buckle under the strain. It’s become clear that our politicians are more than willing to sacrifice our families’ economic safety for their own political gain.
The price we’re paying at the pump has little to do with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and everything to do with our government’s hostile global ambitions. Biden is attempting to hide behind Putin’s legacy in his final days instead of telling Americans who is really to blame for their economic distress: his own incompetence and his government’s callous disregard for its own citizens.
Courtney served 20 years as a nuclear engineering officeraboard submarines and 15 years as a graduate school instructor. A political independent, he spends his time playing with his seven grandchildren in Moscow.
