Government Ruins Everything—Daylight Saving Time Edition

Good news, my fellow Americans: with the world burning, gas prices skyrocketing, and the nation generally awash in a paralyzing malaise, your federal government is laser-focused on the important stuff.

The Hill:

The Senate on Tuesday approved a proposal to make Daylight Saving Time permanent, which if passed in the House and signed by President Biden, would mean Americans would never again have to set their clocks back an hour and lose an hour of afternoon daylight in the fall and winter.

If enacted into law, it would also mean that early risers lose an hour of daylight in the mornings in November, December, January and February.

Sure, it has been a hot topic recently because the rest of the country (I live in Arizona) just did your government “time slave” thing last weekend. Still, is it really the most pressing issue in America?

No, no it is not.

This is a classic example of how the government never really helps. Whenever the semi-annual Daylight Saving (no second “s”) Time discussion comes up, people are generally in favor of just getting rid of it altogether.

Neither party can be trusted once a politician gets to the swamp and succumbs to federal brain rot though. This abomination was sponsored by a Republican:

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the lead sponsor of the proposal, touted an array of benefits to making Daylight Saving Time permanent — from reduced season affective disorder in the late fall and early winter to more daylight for school sports.

“There’s strong science behind it that is now showing and making people aware of the harm that clock switching has, there’s an increase in heart attacks, car accidents and pedestrian accidents,” he said on the Senate floor.

“The benefits of Daylight Savings Time has been accounted for in the research: Reduced crime as there is light later in the day, decrease in seasonal depression that many feel during standard time and the practical one,” he added.

Rubio said it would also give school kids more time to play in the daylight after school.

Rubio doesn’t even know how to say it correctly, which is the first indicator that he’s not overwhelmed with good ideas. He also breaks out the execrable for the children human shield that Democrats are so fond of using in order to pass nonsense legislation.

The kids aren’t outside playing in the daylight after school, and we need to be honest about that. They’re inside on the couch with their PlayStations, on the early career track to Type 2 diabetes. Spare me the notion that you need the sun to be up until midnight in June so you can get your brats outside. It ain’t happening.

I have long railed against bipartisanship in Congress because it usually yields legislative dreck like this. Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse was also a sponsor of the bill. My neighborhood is bigger than Rhode Island–why do they still even get a vote?!?!?

For the sake of a beleaguered nation, I implore Republicans and Democrats to stop trying to get along.

Since we don’t do DST here in the Grand Canyon State, this would move us permanently into the Pacific time zone. Yeah, I spent almost 25 years working from the west coast, so it’s not like I’m not used to it. It’s just that I have enjoyed having that extra hour for a few months out of each year.

I may never have substantive contact with friends or colleagues on the east coast again after this.

The chances of Arizona opting into the new scheme aren’t very good. We don’t place a premium on an extra hour of daylight when it’s 117 degrees. The kids here just spontaneously combust if they’re out in that for too long.

From a purely political standpoint, this shows just how reluctant the federal government is to give up any power whatsoever. There has been talk for years about getting rid of DST. The feds are loath to undo any legislation that is already on the books, however. The nonsense about it being healthier this way is easily dispelled by a casual glance at the American public during spring and summer.

This is merely the government saying “Look at this wonderful thing we’ve done for the hoi polloi. Yay us and let’s make it permanent!”

Dear everyone in Congress: you’re awful people, stop trying to help, and maybe be a little more honest with yourselves about what your kids are really up to.