The average age of a US Senator is 63, and the average age in the House of Representatives is 58. That means the average US Senator was 15 in January 1974, and the average Representative 10; half of them are older than that, so the majority are more than old enough to remember the debacle that was year-round Daylight Saving Time. I certainly do; it was still pitch-black when school started, and that was in Louisiana; I can only imagine how black it was in, say, North Dakota, where sunrise wouldn’t have come until well after 9 AM in January.
Of course, my brain is a bit healthier than that of the average Congresscritter, so perhaps the average politician’s memory doesn’t even extend back into the last century at all, much less to the incredibly remote year 1974. But one would presume they have staff to do the actual thinking for them (as opposed to the scheming, which most of them do much too well on their own), so there really isn’t an excuse for repeated attempts at social engineering that aren’t even tied to some kind of grift, pork, or fascist collaboration.
I’m not going to go into detail about why even regular Daylight Saving Time is a terrible idea; I’ve done it before, many others have done it before, and neither control freaks nor sun-worshipers will believe the evidence anyhow, no matter how broad the consensus. Americans especially balk at the idea that if they want extra time after work, they should simply adjust their schedules (get up an hour earlier to do chores & errands before work, etc); they much prefer the State to force everyone to do it with them whether those people want it or not. All I’ll say is this: as in 1974, most people are going to hate this by January after it takes effect. But given that the US bureaucracy has expanded dramatically in the past 50 years (and its inertia has multiplied exponentially), I’m not sanguine about us getting out of the mess Congress is about to impose upon us nearly as quickly and easily this time.
I was hospitalized for burns in ’64 here in Missouri, but while bedfast, I remember a rumor that our legislature was considering making an hour 57 minutes and 36 seconds long. That would give everyone an extra hour each day. Surely that was just a rumor!
It is so nice to agree with Maggie on so many topics, including this one. What is aggravating up here in British Columbia is that permanent DST is not even debated on its merits, but will be introduced when neighbouring Washington State introduces it. Why? If we Canadians can be more sensible than Americans, so be it 🙂 What is strange about the whole business is that we live in a time when “natural” is good. What could be more natural than living on permanent solar time? (With plus or minus 30 minutes due to time zones). You want to get up an hour earlier or later, why, do so, what is stopping you? Why do you want the state to enforce your personal preferences?
Americans want the freedom to do whatever they want as long as they can force others to do the same.
Or state schedules using Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) everywhere, and eliminate time zones entirely.
If you want your shop to be open during the hours that would be 9AM to 5PM in your present time zone, simply translate those hours to UTC, and post a sign that says “Open xx hour UTC to yy hour UTC.”
If everyone is using UTC, there is nothing ambiguous about that sign.
It is as clear as a sign that says “Open dawn to dusk.”
As one moves East or West the UTC times for shop open hours would change, but if everyone’s watch is set to UTC, the meaning of any sign would be obvious and unambiguous.
The same could be done for school nours. School districts could even specify UTC school hours that change at various times of the year. Everyone would be on notice for when school hours begin and end.
Dirunal animals manage to awaken around dawn and sleep at night. Nocturnal animals follow an opposite schedule.
Animals don’t use clocks or time zones.
Even though we use clocks, we could do the same by stating all schedules in UTC.
Unfortunately, as Einstein allegedly observed in the 1940s: Two things are infinite, as far as we know – the universe and human stupidity.
So chaos would likely follow universal adoption of UTC.
DST is contentious amongst us commoners for various reasons, but with the politcos all you have to do is follow the money. I haven’t quite figured out the scheme yet, but there must be a payoff somewhere.