Daylight Savings Time

This weekend marks the first time many parts of Indiana will turn their clocks forward in recognition of Daylight Savings Time. Nearly the entire state, prior to this year, never had to change their clocks. Part of the year the state was on Central Time, the other part East Coast Time. Legislators, after many recent failures, finally passed a bill last spring giving the state its first mandatory taste of DST...and you would think they authorized they invasion of Ohio. The hysterics are part genuine disgust, part cynical politics (the flames fanned by the Democrats...really, do they stand for anything but cynicism?).

Republicans in the State House, with the urging of the new Republican governor Mitch Daniels, spearheaded the effort to move to DST. By virtue of a last second reversal of votes, passage of the bill succeeded as the legislative session's clock struck midnight. Outrage ensued in many places, and, if you can believe it, lingers nearly a year later. It's not that the legislature actually removed or added an hour to the day twice a year, they only changed how we tell "time," which is an artificial measure in the first place. Did I mention that this abominable time change will only occur twice a year? I probably didn't have to because you know that. In fact, with the exception of a couple remote spots out West, everyone in this country goes through the drill of changing all their clocks each fall and spring. And guess what? The sun is always out the basically same amount of time during the day before and after the time change. So what's the big deal?

So I say to those Indianans who will, for the first time in their lives change their clocks this week, welcome to the club. Some things in life are worth a level of outrage. This isn't one of them. Save your energy for the day the governor masses the National Guard on the Ohio border.