ACCOMPLISHMENTS OR GESTURES

Daylight Savings Time and Other Futile Acts

The Difference

We all know what real accomplishments look like and admire them.  Published books, works of art, inventions, break-throughs in science—we honor the creators and, in some cases, strive to aspire to these heights.  On the other side of this is “gesturing” where the person wants full credit when they don’t actually do anything.   A perfect example is the statement we’ve all heard— “I was meaning to (help you move, come visit when you were sick, give you a gift’) but I didn’t get to it.  Or “let me know if there’s anything I can do.” 

The recent legislation to make daylight savings time year-round is a perfect example of a futile act.  Were people clamoring to have this happen?  Sure, it sounds nice, but in fact, the idea of having kids not have to go to school in the dark is belied at this time of year when the earlier hour means most of them do walk in the dark.  And there is a significant cost implied by this new law.  Every company with a computer or who supports apps has to go into every code module and remove the code that changes the time.  Every…single…one.  (I’d suggest just commenting it out, so that when this changes back, the code is already there).  Then, as each module has been changed, it is prudent to test them.  As Y2K demonstrated, this is no minor feat.  I’m pretty sure they didn’t consider this when they passed this do-nothing legislation.

While we are dealing with record inflation, the war in Ukraine, continued “emergency” mandates and more, what made this futile act worth the effort?  How about repealing the emergency acts?  Getting masks off people on airplanes where the reprocessed air is safer than being outside?  The ridiculous nature of this makes one think it’s time for some constructive change in Congress.

Let’s Pass a Few Useful Laws

First, let’s reset legislators pay to a far more modest amount, taking into account the cost of living in DC.  If they want to pass a law, they all have to pay into a fund.  We have plenty of laws; there is likely one for every eventuality.  We don’t need any new ones.  If they get rid of a law, they get a bonus.  In fact, let’s let the administrative Goliath work the same way.  I’d love to see if they could get rid of regulations as fast as Trump did. 

Second, bills must be confined to a single subject and cannot be grandiose gobbledygook like the Build Back Bummer.  Costs must be calculated by an independent body, and over a certain amount, must be subjected to a vole of the populace.  If the bill is longer than 10 pages, the public must be given at least two weeks to review it (giving time for Congress to actually read it, which rarely happens).  “We have to pass Obamacare, so we can find out what’s in it,” Nancy Pelosi.

Finally, rather than term limits, we eliminate the benefits after you leave office.  No retirement plan, no fancy health insurance, no free travel.  You serve your time, pay into Medicare and Social Security and just leave.  You’d get a lot fewer lifers and encourage more of the population to give up a few years in service to our country.

We, the people, deserve better.