Here we go again with our annual exercise in silliness. At 2 a.m. Sunday the absurdity known as daylight saving time ends. Unless you live in Arizona or Hawaii – the only two states where daylight saving time is not observed – you will need to turn your clocks back an hour, gaining the hour you lost when clocks moved forward March 11.
You also don’t need to worry about changing your clocks if you live in the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. But there’s not much time left to relocate there to escape the mandatory time travel the rest of must endure.
The truth is that daylight saving time is a waste of time and accomplishes nothing. Contrary to popular myth, it does not save energy.
Nobody likes daylight saving time. Nobody’s even sure what it’s for. But it certainly has no purpose in our technology-driven, always-on society.
Airlines and airline passengers hate daylight saving time. It messes with schedules and can lead to missed flights, missed connections, pilot error, and worse.
Employers hate daylight saving time because workers are either late, unavailable, or dangerously sleep-deprived when clocks “spring forward” in March. That’s especially true for truck drivers, Uber and Lyft drivers, and anyone who operates heavy machinery.
Nobody likes daylight saving time. Nobody’s even sure what it’s for. But it certainly has no purpose in our technology-driven, always-on society.
Even dairy cows hate daylight saving time. They don’t want to wait an extra hour to be milked. And who can blame them? If they could talk, they would surely ask us why we dumb humans are moving clocks back and forth for no udder reason than the fact that we’ve been doing so since 1966 under federal law.
Daylight saving time is absolute proof that our government is hopelessly dysfunctional, out of touch with the times, and – let’s tell the truth – all but useless.
So who benefits from daylight saving time?
A trade association representing the barbecue industry absolutely loves daylight time. Longer summer days equal a longer barbecuing season. You cannot make this stuff up.
It’s hard to find anyone else in America who thinks that daylight saving is a good idea. But the only way it could change is if Congress takes action.
Don’t hold your breath.
If Congress can’t even handle a simple issue like eliminating daylight saving time – where there is virtually universal support for its repeal – no wonder lawmakers have no shot at doing hard things like the balancing the federal budget, figuring out what to do about health insurance, dealing with illegal immigration, and reducing gun violence and other crimes.
It’s truly amazing that most Americans and their calendars are held hostage by the grill and charcoal companies. What do they give members of Congress to keep daylight time in place? Free hot dogs, burgers and roasted marshmallows?
So this Sunday, I invite all Americans – red, blue and purple – to join me in a day of peaceful protest. Let’s demand that we not be forced forward and backward through time like yo-yos.
Let’s tell our elected representatives in the House and Senate – especially the ones begging for our votes in the midterm elections Tuesday – that it’s time to throw daylight saving time onto the ash heap of history.