At the very least it should be put up for a vote on our next election.
. . . Would you vote for it or against it?
Originally Posted by Fast Gunn
The use of Daylight Savings Time (DST) in the U.S. goes back to the first World War. Initially, it was called "War Time" and the point was the same as it is today; make it stay light later during the day in order to save energy. The thinking was (and still is) "Have more daylight in the evening BEFORE having to turn on lights which uses electricity (energy)."
At the conclusion of World War One, DST was abandoned until the second World War in the 1940's at which time it was put back in place for the same reason. Also during this time, England employed it too with a slight twist. Instead of moving the clocks forward one hour, they moved it two hours. They also called it "War Time". And in England, one very important aspect of this was that, because the clocks were ahead by two hours, people were going to bed and turning off their lights shortly after dark in order to possibly make it more difficult for the German bombing raids on London. If the city wasn't lit up so much, they couldn't see exactly where to drop their bombs. Whether this actually worked or not would be a topic for debate. The end of World War Two also brought the end of DST until the 1960's.
In 1965, DST was used again for the purpose of saving energy and for the enjoyment of late summer evenings. One segment of the population that strongly opposed the idea was the farmers of the U.S. During that year, Congress passed legislation that would put DST in effect on a permanent basis beginning in 1966 starting the last Sunday in April and ending the last Sunday in October (a full six months). Also, at this time, the Federal government gave the states the chance to 'opt-out' of the program provided they stick with their option.
Arizona, Hawaii, and the counties of Indiana that are part of the Eastern Time Zone took that 'opt-out' which is why they don't change their clocks with the rest of the U.S. One exception is the northeastern portion of Arizona which is a very large Indian reservation that DOES observe the change in time in the Spring and Fall.
During the first couple of years, a lot of people (like now) didn't understand the "how's and why's" of all the clock changing. Some of these included members of Congress who began to wonder if this was not such a good idea and were catching flak from the farmers in their constituency. Others wondered if it might be worthwhile to just use DST year-round.
So, in late 1967, it was decided to start DST in February 1968 (about two months early) on a trial basis to see how that would work. I can personally tell you: IT DID NOT!! As one of many kids standing next to streets waiting for the school bus early in the morning in the dark, that went over like the proverbial "ton of bricks". Parents were not happy about the idea of having their kids standing next to, and crossing busy streets in the dark during morning rush hour. So that quickly(!) ended the concept of year-round DST.
In 1987, the start time of DST changed under President Reagan's Energy Bill. This moved the start time from the last Sunday in April to the first Sunday in April (this added three weeks to DST). This time it was the religous community got bent out of shape due to the always changing date of Easter. Their claim was that the change of time would screw up their Easter Sunrise Services if people forgot to set their clocks before going to bed Saturday night (Easter dates are always sometime between March 23 and April 25).
In 2005, the start, and now, end time would again change under President Bush's Energy Bill. Beginning in 2007, DST would start the second Sunday in March and end the first Sunday in November (this added a full month; three weeks in the Spring and one week in the Fall for a total of 34 weeks on and 18 weeks off).
One note here: If we didn't use DST, there would be an hour of daylight in the morning that would be wasted.
Example:
Let's suppose the earliest sunrise in your location during the month of June occurs at 6am. You may be getting out of bed at that time, getting ready for work/school/whatever that occupies your day. If we didn't use DST, that sunrise time would be 5am instead of 6am. Probably still in bed at that time, right? Wasted daylight.
In the evening, suppose sunset is around 8:30pm. Plenty of light after dinner to enjoy being outside before dark playing golf, walking the dog, doing yardwork, relaxing, or whatever else you enjoy doing outside. Without DST, that sunset time would be 7:30pm, and you'd be going for the lights in the house earlier and using them longer before going to bed.
I hope this sheds some light (no pun intended) on the subject of Daylight Savings Time.