With the mid term election season drawing to a conclusion next week, the recent decline in the price of gasoline has been welcomed news by the Republican Party. And while you may be tempted to call it an October surprise one thing is certain-falling gas prices have been a boon to the party

It is kind of silly, really, but not to be totally unexpected.

After all, if there is one thing that nearly every American driver obsesses about, it is the price of gas.

But while the current price at the pumps has been seemingly kind to consumers and the GOP alike, it is only because it doesn't accurately reflect the reality of its true costs.

In fact, it is not even close.

That's because, in truth, the price of a barrel of oil is a fantasy.

Sure, its spot price may be about $60/barrel, but the reality is that the true cost of a barrel is much, much higher.

How much higher you ask? Try $262.00 per barrel higher.

That means that the true cost of barrel oil is not $60 as is widely believed, but a hefty $322.00 or 5.3 times its spot price.

That's because the spot price of a barrel of oil is a completely insufficient measure of its cost. It only involves the unit price and fails to take into account all of the costs associated with keeping those millions of units flowing.

And as we know, in the bloody and turbulent world of the Persian Gulf, it is both American blood and treasure that keeps it all going.

And while we can certainly never even begin to calculate the value of the lost and broken American lives created by this struggle, we can, in fact, estimate its cost in tax dollars.

It's how I came up with my price.

That's because according to estimates, we spend nearly half of our entire $448 billion defense budget protecting and ensuring the free flow of the 853 million barrels of oil that we get every year from the Persian Gulf.

And given the realities created by such huge numbers, that means that we spend an additional $262.00 on each of these units in order to bring them safely to market.

So while we can all now happily fill up at a mere $2.10 per gallon, the actual price of that gas is much higher once you have added in the cost of the defense dollars necessary to bring it to market.

Add in its cost in blood and its true price is off the charts.

It is sad but... true.

Maintaining, the illusion is more costly than we think.

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