Special Edition: 'What Time Is It?' A Fierce Political Issue in the United States... Circa 2021
Normally, I’ll be taking Wednesday off, from the newsletter. But sometimes I see something just so scrumptious, so compelling, while so absurd, it would be a crime to my [increasing] number of followers, to not write some blurb. This is one. Please hit subscribe (free) if you think I’ve earned it. More below.
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Everyone knows the drill, “Spring forward, Fall back.” It ensures that every year, sometime in mid-March, everyone starts a few mornings with some four-letter words and considers a different profession, but loves the fact that 7:00 p.m. will feel like the evening again and not the middle of the night. And, of course, second verse, same as the first, every fall, people snuggle in their beds for an “extra” hour, while shaking their head angrily when one cannot tell the difference between 5:30 p.m. and 1:00 a.m.
It is just the way it is, but, having lived in Hawaii (briefly), the deep south, and the far north, I feel like I can safely say that there are few things worse (in this category) than living in the north and being asked on - for example - January 3rd at 7:30 p.m. to “run out and get some toilet paper,” having it be 14 degrees (or -10 for my Canadian family/friends) and have it feel like two in the morning. The pureed shittiness of such a situation edges out how cool it is to tee-off at 7:30 p.m. in the summer to get a quick in a quick nine.
All of this is a long way to get around to saying that there is a movement in the United States to keep daylight savings time year-round. A win for toilet paper and golf. Admittedly, it means some of us will be dropping our kids off at school in the dark. However, there is a group of physicians convinced that one’s body does far better following circadian rhythms and we can see their point. It makes sense physiologically. Health is important, and physicians can simply thumb a couple buttons on their phone, in front of the fireplace, and have their toilet paper delivered in 15 minutes (Which, ideally, is soon enough.)
In the United States Congress, there is actually bipartisan support for the idea(!). This should probably be written again because it’s so odd; Many on both sides largely agree that we should error on the side of not making 7:30 feel like closing time and just keeping daylight savings time. Who disagrees? Well, Arizona for one. When it’s 115 degrees, they would prefer to have 3:00 p.m. feel like late evening, but fck them, no one forced them to move to the desert, the heat wasn’t a secret, and there’s not enough water anyway.
So what’s the problem?
Well, it’s the U.S. Congress, for one. They have likely forgotten how to actually take a vote, in a situation you’re allowed to vote for whatever you personally want. Thus, there is reason to doubt it will ever come about. Additionally, the leaders of the two opposing movements are fighting this out like it’s the presidential electoral college and Trump’s losing. For real.
As Politico puts it, we have a UFC match:
But for Jay Pea and Scott Yates, it was yet another volley in one of the weirder and more vengeful grudge matches currently taking place in the world of public advocacy.
Without getting bogged down in specifics, just know - it’s ugly.
Pea and Yates are convinced that the other is in the pocket of some industry (surely to God they are, or better be, to fight this hard). For example, as you might have guessed, the golf-resort industry is all for permanent daylight savings time and I suppose the physicians and people who chop firewood are on the other side. (I really don’t know and don’t care, it’s beyond the scope of everything).
The larger point is just how far this has come. Up until about 150 years ago, every town had its own time, noon was when the sun was at its peak in that town (cool, huh?). But then they invented trains and even though trains never arrive on time anyway, it became necessary to know exactly how late the train arrived from someone else’s shitty town. Thus, with the advent of railways, they had to put everyone on the same time, within limits, thus “zones.” It was not a big deal.
Nowadays, we have black men shot while being pulled over for a ticket and insurrections that threaten democracy, but the United States can still count upon a decent-sized, industry-backed, political fight over… What time is it?
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Happy hump day everyone. Hope you enjoyed the “Special Edition”