It’s hard for me to believe it’s been over 30 years since the release of the film Misery. Based upon Stephen King’s novel, Misery is a psychological thriller – just the kind of movie I usually avoid! However, I vividly remember watching Misery with some friends in college. The plot revolves around a fictional novelist named Paul Sheldon, played by actor James Caan. Sheldon has gained a huge following with a series of Romance novels about a woman named Misery Chastain. Yet despite his success, Sheldon wants to put an end to his Romance writing and move on to other projects. Thus he crafts the final installment of his Misery series, a book which ends with the death of Misery Chastain.
With his new manuscript in tow, Sheldon sets out from his home in the Colorado Rockies to see his agent in New York City. But the author is caught in a snowstorm and his car veers off the road. Sheldon suffers serious injuries in the crash, including badly broken legs. In what seems to be a stroke of good fortune, the author is found by a nurse named Annie Wilkes, who takes him to her own remote mountain home. Annie turns out to be a voracious reader of Misery Chastain novels and gushes that she is Sheldon’s ‘number one fan.’ Grateful for his apparent rescue, Sheldon allows Annie to read his new manuscript. But when Annie reaches the conclusion and learns of Misery’s death, she flies into a dark rage. Rather than being his savior, Annie Wilkes becomes Paul Sheldon’s tormentor, holding him hostage and forcing him to re-write the novel and restore Misery Chastain to life.
I won’t reveal how the rest of the picture unfolds. But if you enjoy high tension movies, Misery should be right up your alley. On the other hand, if you’re more than a little squeamish, Misery might not be for you! The film is notable for launching the big-screen career of actress Kathy Bates. Although then largely unknown, Bates brilliantly portrayed the twisted cruelty of nurse Annie Wilkes. This role earned Kathy Bates an Academy Award for Best Actress.
Sadly, the United States finds itself in much the same miserable predicament as Paul Sheldon. Prior to the last election, the state of the nation under Donald Trump was remarkably strong. The economy was surging, unemployment was exceedingly low, prices were stable, and real wages were rapidly growing – especially for minorities and the working class. Thanks to Trump’s excellent energy policies and the hydraulic fracking boom, America had achieved the long elusive goal of energy independence. In early 2020, drivers enjoyed gas prices of $2.55 per gallon.
Of course, those halcyon days were abruptly interrupted by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Millions of Americans experienced a strong sense of tension as they went to the polls in November 2020. Yes, they had experienced tremendous prosperity during the Trump years. However, the chaos of COVID and Donald Trump’s narcissism created an opening for Joe Biden. Biden also benefited greatly from relentless (and often patently false) media attacks on Trump. The liberal media ceaselessly promoted the Russia collusion hoax while dutifully burying any story which might cast a negative light upon Biden. Biden was portrayed as a sensible moderate; a man who would strive to unify our fractured nation; the candidate who would conquer the pandemic while restoring decorum to the office of the President. Of course there were ample warning signs that this narrative had no basis in reality, but just enough of the electorate bought the story. Thus, Joe Biden managed to be elected as the 46th President of the United States.
Since taking office 18 months ago, Joe Biden and the Democratic Party have unleashed a huge amount of misery upon our nation. Like Stephen King’s fictional nurse Annie Wilkes, the man who some American voters thought would bring healing to our country has instead revealed himself as something altogether different – a mixture of deeply misguided convictions as well as outright, intentional cruelty. Seized by radical elements of the left, Joe Biden and the Democratic Party have proceeded to inflict tremendous suffering upon Americans, with much more to come.
Any time that the Democratic Party gains control of the government, there will invariably be an orgy of unrestrained and reckless spending. This latest iteration has been no different. The Democrats promptly passed a massive $1.9 trillion spending bill in March of 2021, despite a rapidly rebounding economy following the COVID shut downs. Much of this money was allocated towards enhanced unemployment benefits and stimulus checks, even though the unemployment rate was falling rapidly. The government was essentially paying Americans not to return to work. Roughly one fourth of this bill involved funds for state and local governments. Yet state bailouts were wholly unnecessary; state revenues remained roughly stable during the pandemic. Quite predictably, all this spending was simply fuel for the inflationary fires. Many economists voiced strong inflation concerns (including Larry Summers, who served as Bill Clinton’s Treasury Secretary and was a key economic advisor to Barack Obama) but these concerns were ignored or even mocked.
In January 2021 when Biden was inaugurated in office, inflation was running only 1.4%. Since then, prices on all manner of goods and services have skyrocketed. By July 2021, inflation had reached a painful 5.4%. The latest reading in May 2022 has inflation at an excruciating 8.6% – the highest in over 40 years.
Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats richly deserve blame for the current bout of surging prices. Inflation is a two way street; it can be triggered by excess demand or insufficient supply, or both. Basic economics tells us that prices inevitably rise when there is too much money chasing too few goods. On one side of the equation, Biden’s spending profligacy greatly expanded the money supply. (It must also be said that Democrats who control the Federal Reserve bear huge responsibility as well.) Yet the Biden administration has done just as much damage on the supply side, especially in regards to energy policy.
During the 2020 election campaign, Joe Biden repeatedly promised a full-blown war on fossil fuels. Since taking office, Mr. Biden has spouted all manner of falsehoods. However, when it comes to oil and gas, the President has unfortunately been true to his word. On his very first day in office, Biden took the unprecedented step of revoking the permit for the Keystone pipeline. If not for this executive tantrum on Biden’s part and previous opposition by the Obama administration, the Keystone pipeline would right now be merrily transporting over 800,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Canada to refineries on the US Gulf Coast. The project would have provided thousands of high paying jobs on both sides of the border. Moreover, pipelines are able to transport oil much more safely and with lower carbon emissions than the alternative of road or rail.
The death of the Keystone pipeline was just an appetizer for Joe Biden. His administration has subsequently done everything in their power to put the domestic oil and gas industry out of business. Here is where the President’s actions are not simply misguided or inept, but downright cruel. The truth is that the flourishing life that modern Americans enjoy is hugely dependent on inexpensive, abundant, and reliable energy provided by fossil fuels. There is no possible way for unreliable wind and solar to meet these energy needs. Yet Biden has made it abundantly clear that he worships before the golden calf of the radical green agenda. (I’ve written extensively about the issue of global warming in prior blogs. Please check those out if you haven’t already.) Such green idolatry demands sacrificial victims; President Biden has dutifully obeyed by offering up the destruction of the U.S. fossil fuel industry. In doing so, he has inflicted far more anguish upon his fellow Americans than they will ever endure from a gently warming planet.
Yet in a bizarre twist of illogic, Biden has now resorted to begging for more oil production from Nicolas Maduro, the murderous thug of Venezuela. Just as embarrassing, Biden will shortly prostrate himself before the rulers of Saudi Arabia. During the presidential campaign, Biden loudly proclaimed that he would make the Saudis a “pariah state” for their complicity in the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Here the delusions of Joe Biden’s mind are on full display: instead of unleashing the amazing energy and innovation of American oil and gas producers, he would rather promote the interests of these dark regimes.
The national average price for a gallon of gasoline now exceeds $5. Analysts predict that prices will surpass $6 per gallon in August. It should surprise no one that prices have reached stratospheric levels, yet Biden somehow manages to act surprised. It’s been a mixture of comedy and tragedy to watch the President thrash about, attempting to cast blame upon anyone and anything except his own foolishness and stupidity.
The disasters created by the Biden administration are by no means limited to skyrocketing inflation and gas prices. We could easily add worsening crime, an uncontrolled border, an epidemic of drug overdose deaths, and much, much more. Perhaps the only good news is that pain has a way of focusing the mind. Polls seem to indicate that the large majority of Americans have learned their lesson. Voters will thankfully have the opportunity to repudiate the horrendous Biden agenda in the mid-term elections this fall. And God willing, we can put an end to our misery in 2024.
