Why Are We Still Doing Daylight Saving Time?

This is always the time of year when people are bitching and moaning about having to move the clocks around.  People say it’s a relic of a bygone era, and we don’t need it anymore.  That places like Arizona and Hawaii (who don’t participate) have got it figured out.  That nobody wants it, and thus, we shouldn’t be doing it anymore.

Well, it’s not true that nobody wants it, but it’s also not true that it would be difficult to change.

Who wants it?  Farmers want it.  Farmers still want the clocks to be set back, because if we didn’t, they’d spend their entire mornings working in dark, resulting in dangerous conditions and lower worker happiness.  And farmers, like it or not, still hold huge sway in our lives.  They grow the food…  we need the food.  We’re really not holding many cards on that.

But would it be a pain to change?  Sorta.  If we just wanted to keep it on Standard Time (which we’re on right now), we could do it without congressional approval.  We’d just need to get California on board, as Washington has already voted for it.  But California says no, because the farmers say no.  If we wanted to compromise and “spring forward” into DST, then leave it there, we’d need Congress to sign off on it, which is unlikely.

So are we gonna switch?  Probably not soon.  Just learn to deal with it.

~Jake from 98.7 The Bull