Throughout the years, there has always been debate amongst Americans about something really simple: time. Twice a year, almost every state, possession and territory turns the clocks forward and then sets them back every year. Soon, though, that may change. The House recently passed the Sunshine Protection Act.
If the Senate hops on board with the House and if, as he promised he would, President Donald Trump signs it into law, then we will, as a nation, still have six time zones (Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, Alaska and Hawaii), but the time would never change and Daylight Savings Time would become permanent.
But is it time for a change? A lot of people think it’s not, pointing to safety issues and basic quality of life. Their arguments are invalid and paranoid. Yes, it’ll take some adjustment, doing things in the dark that we mostly do in daylight, but I would just point out that we already do that when the clocks change.
Let’s just make time changes forever so that we’ll never have to worry about springing ahead and falling back ever again. It’s time to make a permanent adjustment in favor of temporary ones two times per year.
There is plenty of proof that maintaining the same time is a common-sense move. Look at Russia. Yes, they’re our enemies and yes, we almost nuked each other during the Cold War on multiple occasions, when they were of course the Soviet Union, including one time in 1983 when the world almost ended, There are also both world wars. So all of this is not without precedence.
The point is that Russia has the right idea: 11 time zones, time that goes neither forward nor backward. It works for them with all their time zones, so why can’t it work for us and our mere six?
This all started with the Standard Time Act of 1918. That’s where this all went south. We had the right idea during both world wars, but that didn’t take any time.
There have been plenty of attempts to make a standard and permanent time adjustment happen before, but this time, it might actually take. President Nixon almost succeeded in 1972, but that effort was repealed. Then there was the Uniform Time Act of 1966, but that failed as well. At one point or another, many, if not all, states have at least considered the change that the SPA proposes.
Given the past efforts, maybe 49 states will enter this, if the Senate passes it, with an open mind. In fact, they have time on their hands now, so maybe they should at least start doing research should this actually pass into law. Just a thought.
Of course, there are two hiccups here. First, there could be enough cowards in the Senate who will stop this from happening. Then, if it does happen, states will be able to exempt themselves before the law would take effect.
Arizona, for the most part, stays the same throughout the year. The Navajo Nation, for example, changes twice a year. Having briefly lived in Arizona, I can imagine the adjustment it takes for someone off the reservation calling into the reservation. But they make it work, so why wouldn’t this work?
Yes, Arizona largely adjusts its time twice a year. More states might be emboldened to do the same, maybe even it putting to the voters in the form of a referendum vote. Most likely, though, their Houses and Senates could vote to exempt their state without regard to what their constituents want.
Let’s not forget Hawaii. They don’t play ball. Neither do Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, and U.S. Virgin Islands. Indiana once messed with spreading time changes from county to county, but that was a dud.
If we can convince the oddballs to step into the modern times, this could actually become a positive thing for our nation.
So, yes, the SPA might become law, but then the 49 other states might exempt themselves, basically rendering the law impotent. Of course, most states will likely get on board, which means that, say, 43 states (and our territories and possessions) will go along with the law and the remaining states won’t, which means we’ll have to think twice before ringing someone in another time zone. Yes, yes, we already do. I, for example, sometimes have to call back to California for work, remembering that although its 8:00 am here, it’s 5:00 there, way too early to call.
In that case, I simply stick to email. No worrying about waking anyone up and we can read each other’s messages at our convenience without “forcing” someone to pick up a ringing phone at six in the morning. It is odd, however, to get emails at seven in the evening because it’s still business hours in California.
You get my point.
But staying consistent throughout the year will make life easier for everyone, regardless of where they are in our fine nation. Sure, there will be an adjustment period should this happen, and sure, people will whine, bitch and moan, but when all is said and done, it will be proven that this change is in the best interests of our nation and our quality of life.
Common sense. Isn’t it about…time? Yeah, I can’t take credit for that one; the Latter-day Saints (fka Mormons) came up with that. Even so, I still used it. Now it’s time to say goodbye…okay, okay, I’ll stop now.