The current “cap and trade” bill wending its way through Congress represents the triumph of “hope” — as in “Hope And Change” — over everything else, including reality. Its proponents tout it as a major step toward American energy independence, as well as toward the use of cleaner energy. In reality, it’s a leap toward chaos.

One of the fundamental building blocks of post-Industrial Age civilization is access to energy. As we find new forms, new sources, we rarely discard the old ones — they dwindle in popularity, but rarely vanish. Wood led to coal led to oil led to hydroelectric led to nuclear fission, just to name a few, but all are still in use to various degrees. And those sources will, in time, diminish in popularity as new ones come into use. It’s the natural progression.

But not under Cap and Trade.

Cap and Trade’s stated goal is to force Americans to jump to the next cycle of energy production, where these old, dirty, inefficient technologies are shoved aside and replaced with newer, cleaner, sources. It’s a fine, noble, sentiment, with one fatal flaw: it’s built on fantasy.

At present, there is no “new” source of energy that Cap and Trade is pushing us toward. Instead, it’s just pushing us off our base and dashing our hopes of ever finding a new one.

Imagine you’re building a bridge. The person in charge wants it done by a certain date, and insists that you will lead a parade over that bridge on that date, come hell or high water. In the meantime, he’s given you the budget to build half the bridge. But not to worry; he’s certain that before you reach that halfway point, the price of supplies will have fallen or the interest rates at the bank holding your funds will have risen or some miracle in bridge supplies technology will have come about and you’ll find that your money will be enough to finish the bridge. But on that date, you’re marching.

Were I that bridge builder, I’d quit or buy a parachute. .

So, what is the real purpose of the whole Cap and Trade bill? The key might be in the enforcement provisions. And the means are economic — fines, permits, taxes, fees, assessments, and the like — all of which translate into more and more money being siphoned out of the private sector and into the hands of the government. All in the name of “energy independence” and “a cleaner environment.”

Carried out as planned, the bill will actually achieve its aims. We will be independent of energy, and the environment will be considerably cleaner as we return to a pre-industrial state.

Put THAT in your iPhone and text it, America.