Leadership Quote by Peter DeFazio

Calling oil a “free market” is like calling a chess match “spontaneous.” DeFazio’s line is compact on purpose: it punctures the most common defense of fossil-fuel pricing - that whatever happens at the pump is simply capitalism doing its neutral, impersonal work. His specific intent is legislative and accusatory. If the market isn’t free, then government has both the right and the obligation to intervene: regulate, tax windfalls, police collusion, rethink subsidies, and treat energy as strategic infrastructure rather than a consumer good.

The subtext is that oil is not priced by pure supply and demand but by power: cartel discipline (OPEC+), geopolitical choke points, sanctions, military protection of shipping lanes, and a domestic policy ecosystem that quietly rigs the board. “Free” collapses under the weight of long-standing subsidies, favorable leasing terms, externalized climate and health costs, and the sheer market concentration of refining and distribution. Even “choice” is constrained; most Americans can’t opt out of gasoline without structural alternatives like transit, dense housing, or EV infrastructure. That’s not a free market, it’s a captive one.

Context matters: DeFazio, a longtime Democratic congressman associated with transportation and infrastructure policy, is speaking from the world of hearings, oversight, and price-spike politics, where “market forces” is often a euphemism for “don’t blame anyone.” The line works because it flips the burden of proof. If oil is already managed, subsidized, and secured by the state, then pretending it’s laissez-faire isn’t economics - it’s messaging.