Emotion and pyrotechnics are the order of the day when it comes to crude oil, and to a slightly lesser degree, natural gas. And then there’s coal, a story for another day, as is nuclear. Truth is, organic fuels, “fossil fuels” for those wishing to voice negativity, are the enablers driving the good — modern society and its advances/innovations, the bad — political conflict (wars) and tyrants, and the ugly — manufactured enviro-hysteria and attendant shakedown artists.

The domestic crude record goes back to the 1860s. The 69-foot oil-producing hole drilled by Col. Drake near Titusville, Pennsylvania birthed an industry that would, among other things:

• Save the whales

• Transform a backwater nation into a first tier world power

• Power and lift societies worldwide

• Spark demand for mechanized personal transportation

• Fuel aviation — military, public and private (pun intended)

• Enable immigrants to populate North America coast to coast

• Feed a burgeoning population

• Win a World War

All that in about eight or so decades. That’s a lot of enabling.

It gets more complicated as global allegiances, alliances, conflicts and international dynamics are increasingly driven by the value and importance of crude oil. Witness the Iran/Strait of Hormuz quagmire…the latest chapter in Iran’s intractability on nuclear weapons and US determination to stymie such an acquisition.

Conflicts in that region have plagued humanity back into the distant mists of time. Most recent episodes center around the existence of Israel as an independent nation…a topic for a subsequent essay. Absent the presence of the organic/hydrocarbon resource, the Middle East dynamic would carry much less, if any, weight.

Sadly, the resource and its import to global societies enables the less than savory who control it to pursue their own ends. For about a half century Iran has attacked US assets and murdered US citizens. The Trump administration lauds itself for being the first in that history to militarily confront the aggressors. Sadly it has fallen victim to miscalculation, bravado, absence of dependable intelligence and embarrassing messaging about “deals” from the very top.

To wit:

We’ve won…they’re out of weapons…they want to negotiate…the Straits are open…we’re very close…it will happen very quickly…and so on…and so on….

One must ask, “Is the focus on ending this?” We deliver air strikes, then halt for negotiations/cease fires/ promises and then resume attacks. Unfortunately, if one believes what’s visible, the focus is not purely on this effort alone. Just for starters there are — the Trump coin, Trump’s crypto ventures, hazing political candidates of his own party, intermittently stiffing Zelenskyy, tariffs on and off, insulting Canada, insulting the EU, the DC reflecting pool debacle, killing the Senate filibuster, the West Wing ballroom, renaming the Kennedy Center in DC, getting rid of the penny, the daylight saving time kerfuffle, and most recently, this scribbler’s favorite — claiming petroleum producers and purveyors of oil -based products are “making too much money and some of it should be returned to the public.”

Oh baby! Strangely, there was no mention of profits on real estate deals, crypto deals or what we’ll “own and develop in Venezuela and Gaza.”

Rational and objective Americans, meaning those not worshipping at the altar of Democratic Socialists, are rightly questioning — well — almost everything. With a midterm election on the near horizon it’s anyone’s guess what the landscape will look like in 2027. Democrats could snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (usually a Republican specialty) with their Bernie acolytes devouring the mainstream of that party. The Diet Coke-fueled Trump parade could easily go off the cliff giving the country two years of impeachments, a weakened defense and higher inflation.

But back to crude oil, US production continues its rise and the price spikes of recent months provide profits to ensure continued production growth and innovation. The country will need it for expanding exports and refilling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Domestic innovation in exploration and production of organic/hydrocarbon fuels (Okay, fossil fuels, if we must) has enabled domestic energy self sufficiency on the upside, and on the downside, a raft of misadventures in both foreign and domestic arenas.

One final note on the Iran question which bears mention, though not directly related. We had occasion quite recently to meet Iranian citizens residing in the U.S., both families with close relations residing in Iran. Direct quotes from them both: “We love Donald Trump, there are streets being named for him and for Lindsay Graham across Iran, even in the suburbs of Tehran.” These Iranian-Americans stated that the President is bombing their enemies, the Iran Revolutionary Guards, not civilians. They also stated that the country of 93+ million is, in effect captive of around 2-3 million zealots. The vast majority of the citizenry supports the attacks and prays for defeat of the regime.

“They killed 45,000 of us in two days! They publicly executed our national wrestling champion in the center of Tehran! They are beasts!” At least the President’s claim of support from the people of Iran can be accepted at face value. Perhaps one day Iranian crude will enable not tyrants and murderers, but the wellbeing of each and every Iranian.