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Americans like to think that their lives are shaped by elections, legislation, and the decisions of their elected leaders in Washington.

Lately, they are being shaped by a 21-mile-wide strip of water half a world away.

The Strait of Hormuz – the narrow passage connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and the broader Indian Ocean – has become the most powerful “legislative body” affecting the American economy. Roughly a fifth of the world’s oil supply flows through it. When that flow is threatened, prices spike. When prices spike, Americans pay – at the pump, at the grocery store, and everywhere in between.

That is not a metaphor. It is a reminder that in a globalized economy, geography can exert more immediate influence over American life than any vote cast in Congress. Yes, the War Powers Act technically gives Congress a check on military conflicts initiated by the president, but legislators are often hesitant to rebuke a commander in chief who has already put U.S. prestige and lives on the line. What’s left of the Iranian regime has no such qualms, however.

Critics argue that the Strait of Hormuz is no longer strategically vital to the United States because America imports far less Middle Eastern oil than it once did. That is true as far as it goes – but it misses the point entirely.

Oil is not priced locally. It is priced globally. The United States may be energy-rich, but it is not price-immune. A disruption in Hormuz does not have to send a single barrel directly to American shores to hit American wallets. It only........

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