A glimmer of hope remains in American bipartisanship: daylight saving time. While it may have held a practical purpose back in the early 1900’s during World War I, it has diminished in usefulness as time has progressed. Apparently, it’s one of the only things in American life both the left and the right can agree on. The annual change throws everyone off in November, but it isn’t a terrible adjustment until four months later when everyone loses an hour of sleep in March. The unfortunate result for the winter months is a sun set just after 4 o’clock. It has become an American norm, but does it really need to continue? The practice began during WWI when Germany and the United Kingdom wanted to save energy by using less lighting. In 1918, the idea was implemented in the U.S, but only for seven months until it was repealed. Throughout the 20th century, the time change process was adapted, repealed and replaced a number of times in America. From 1987 to 2006, the change occurred yearly in April and October. In 2006 the months shifted to November and March, which we still abide by today. SEE ALSO: Meckler: The Great Pushback Has Begun As everyone knows, it’s a huge inconvenience. Why are we continuing something that was previously implemented during times of war to save money and power? With widespread support, the European Parliament voted in 2018 to officially end the system. However, the change was supposed to be implemented in 2021 and has been paused as a response to COVID-19. Bills to end daylight savings time are among the only truly bipartisan policies being proposed on Capitol Hill these days. Florida Republican Rep. Vern Buchanan is advocating for the Sunshine Protection Act, which aims to abolish the annual change and instead permanently keep daylight savings time the new standard time. The bill, which is co-sponsored by Democrat Sen. Patty Murray, was first introduced in 2018 by Sen. Marco Rubio. American politics seems to be at a breaking point, but at least we can all agree that daylight savings time is terrible. But if that’s the only thing we can agree on — and we can’t even get that bill passed — we’re in serious trouble. SEE ALSO: Colin Kaepernick Redefines “Racism” Our country’s disunity stems from many sources, but there’s one foundational problem with American governance: the federal government is too powerful. Americans are at each other’s throats every two and four years because Washington has the power to fundamentally transform American life. President Biden’s “Build Back Better” agenda is a great example. It would advance the cause of socialism, dramatically expand federal power, and put millions of Americans on the government dole. That bill may have stalled, but what if the Democrats had gained a larger majority in 2020? Conservatives’ fears would be coming true, and our country would be one-step closer to authoritarianism. If we want to agree on more than just daylight savings time, we must limit the power of the federal government — and we must do it soon, before even daylight savings time becomes a point of contention.
