The claim that high gas prices are caused by price gouging by the big oil companies was always ridiculous, yet Gavin Newsom made that argument the centerpiece of his campaign to keep Californians from picking up torches and pitchforks and storming the capitol.

California routinely has the highest prices at the pump in the country, outstripping even Hawaii, which obviously has logistical issues not faced by the 48 states in the continental US. These high gas prices are solely the result of California’s ridiculous policies, including the highest gas tax in the nation at 78 cents a gallon.

There is no mystery why gas prices are so high in California–as of today most states have prices beginning with the number 3 per gallon, while California is the only state with the number 5 in front of the decimal point. Right now the average price in California for regular gas is about $5.70 a gallon.

Back in March Newsom signed a bill that was supposed to lower gas prices, making “price gouging” illegal in the state. Signing the law helped mollify voters because California voters have gotten something akin to a lobotomy.

Since he signed the bill gas prices have skyrocketed by a dollar a gallon.

In March, Gavin Newsom passed a bill to stop "big oil price gouging" at the pump.

Since it was signed into law, California gas prices have risen $1.

Maybe the highest gas tax in the nation was to blame all along? pic.twitter.com/8kbyaLzeeM

— The Empowerment Alliance (@EmpoweringUSA) September 19, 2023

A dollar a gallon.

Whatever else you can say about Gavin Newsom, you have to admit two things about him: 1) he is uncommonly pretty; and 2) he is not stupid.

In other words, inside that pretty little head of his was a brain smart enough to know that signing a price-gouging law would do precisely nothing to reduce the price of gasoline. The entire point of the exercise was to turn “Big Oil” into the bad guy and relieve political pressure that was threatening to harm his popularity within the state and give him a political talking point in his sub-rosa campaign for president.

It is pathetic, but apparently, this strategy worked. Newsom got through his political crisis and the only people who paid any price were the evil folks who still purchase and burn gasoline. Since Newsom thinks they should quit doing that, this presents no moral dilemma for him.

One of my enduring frustrations is that I am regularly smacked upside the head by the fact that people seem to enjoy being lied to, or at least tolerate it. Sure, our education system is so pathetic that a vast number of people simply don’t know how supply and demand work, how regulations and taxes drive up prices, and how the economy is not some morality play in which evil fat cats fleece the masses while politicians strive mightily to save the working folks a penny or two.

That, by the way, is intentional on the part of politicians. They want students to count genders, not learn facts.

But let’s face it; enough people have seen this movie before to know that the rhetoric is meaningless, yet they are satisfied to have their “leaders” simply lie to them. It somehow comforts them, I guess. How else can you explain the sheep-like behavior of so many during the COVID lockdowns? Time and again our officials lied to us and few rebelled. Many still refuse to accept that we were fooled by con men into giving trillions of dollars away to elites as we became immiserated.

Will Newsom or all the California legislators–who in the span of a few short months have been proven to be liars extraordinaire–ever pay a price for being disgusting finks?

Nope. Each will fail upwards. Newsom is a plausible candidate for president.

People seem to want an easy explanation and refuse to face hard facts. That’s not true of everyone, obviously. But Left or Right–and yes, there are plenty of people on the Right who engage in the same idiotic behavior, choosing only a different group of con men–want comforting lies.

Ugh.