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For more than fifty years, Americans have been told that energy independence is just around the corner.

Drill more. Import less. Problem solved.

But the truth is more complicated.

In this episode of Confessions of a Gen-X Mind, I take a clear-eyed look at where the idea of “energy independence” came from, why it keeps getting recycled, and why it has never fully matched reality.

We start in the 1970s with the OPEC oil embargo and the gas lines that reshaped American life. We move through Nixon’s promises, Carter’s solar panels, Reagan’s reversals, and into the fracking boom that turned places like North Texas into ground zero for America’s latest energy gamble.

Along the way, we unpack what shows like Landman get right and what they conveniently gloss over. Yes, wind turbines require petroleum to build. Yes, fossil fuels still underpin modern life. But finite resources are still finite, no matter how you vote or what cable channel you watch.

We also talk about geopolitics. Why oil prices are global, no matter how much we drill at home. Why the United States still imports heavy crude while exporting the lighter crude we produce. And why recent U.S. actions toward Venezuela have far more to do with oil than with the long-failed war on drugs.

This isn’t an episode about ideology. It’s about logistics, history, and math.

Sources and influences referenced in this episode include:

• NPR reporting and historical coverage of the 1973–74 OPEC oil embargo
• Commentary and analysis from energy expert Amy Myers Jaffe of NYU
• Saudi America by journalist Bethany McLean
• Marketplace Morning Report interviews on fracking, shale economics, and energy markets
• Long-term environmental and economic discussions from college-level environmental science coursework
• Firsthand experience living in North Texas during the Barnett Shale fracking boom

Energy independence makes for a great slogan.

But slogans don’t power cars, stabilize prices, or plan for the future.

Context does.