If you’re paying more at the pump or for your monthly utility bill in California, New York, New Jersey or Hawaii, there is no mystery why and the hit your pocketbook is taking is no coincidence. Eight of the ten states with the highest gasoline prices are run by Democratic governors or legislatures, according to AAA. Those same states also post the highest average electricity rates, according to analysis from the Institute for Energy Research. And so-called Blue states also impose the highest state income tax rates in the nation, with California at 13.3 %, Hawaii at 11%, New York at 10.9% and New Jersey at 10.75%.

This is not geography or bad luck, but a direct result of policy decisions made over many years by one-party governments that chose to treat energy as a political weapon rather than a foundation for human flourishing. Unfortunately, voters in these blue states increasingly appear to have lost the ability to connect the cause – their irrational voting habits – with the direct effect of higher and higher costs. How else to explain why they keep electing the same people and their fellow Democrats over and over again expecting different results? It’s a special kind of mass insanity.

The Institute for Energy Research laid it out clearly in its recent mapping of electricity rates. States with the highest costs share a common set of choices: aggressive mandates forcing utilities to buy more wind and solar, participation in programs like the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the early retirement of reliable coal and nuclear plants and repeated blocks on new natural gas pipelines. Higher electricity rates are simply the receipt for those decisions. Blue states have layered on renewable portfolio standards that distort markets, lengthened permitting timelines through endless environmental reviews and created regulatory environments that scare off investment in dispatchable power. The costs land on ratepayers every month.

Gasoline prices follow the same script. Blue states have long imposed the highest gas taxes, the strictest refining regulations and the most aggressive climate rules that limit supply and drive up costs. Cynical Governors like New York’s Kathy Hochul and California’s Gavin Newsom treat drivers like ATMs through layered taxes, fees and restrictions, and then try to pass off the blame to the federal government and greedy “big oil” companies.

The high income tax rates in these same states complete the picture. Blue-state governments need the revenue to fund expansive programs, green subsidies and the higher costs created by their own energy rules. It becomes a self-reinforcing cycle: ideological energy policies raise the price of power and fuel, which in turn requires even higher taxes to cover the fallout and keep government spending afloat. Residents pay on multiple fronts while watching their purchasing power erode.

Contrast this with red states. Most have largely avoided the worst of the mandates and early plant retirements. They have kept pipelines and infrastructure projects moving where economics support them. They have maintained a more balanced, all-of-the-above approach that includes abundant natural gas, which remains the backbone of reliable and affordable power. The result is lower electricity rates, lower gas prices at the pump, and in most cases no state income tax at all. Texas, for example, endured its own grid disaster related to 2021’s Winter Storm Uri, but learned from the tragedy and moved fast to reestablish reliability. Other red states effectively deliver cheaper energy because they did not declare war on the fuels that still provide the overwhelming share of dispatchable electricity.

Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said it plainly earlier this year: “if you have expensive energy in your state, it is because politicians and regulators chose to do that to you. This is not an overly complex equation: In fact, it’s pretty simple.”

Blue-state voters who keep opening higher bills should remember who made the choices that produced those bills the next time they head to the polls. Affordable energy abundance is possible to achieve in every state, but only if you actively choose it. Your next election is the best place to start.

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