Still time to hope, and Missouri can lead the way

There is a God.

Just when you think the Almighty has abandoned the political pits in Jefferson City and other places where politicians congregate, here comes a heavenly ray of light to show us the way.

Yes, I am talking about the bolt of sanity that has touched the minds of some of our legislators in the state Capitol who are backing a bill that would eliminate -- I say eradicate! -- the twice-a-year folly of resetting our clocks.

There is a bill making its way through the legislative process that would have us set our clocks to daylight saving time in March 2017 and not change them back to standard time ever. Never, never ever.

Hallelujah!

I've been doing the sort of highly scientific research I always put into these columns, and I can report with a great deal of certainty that people -- real people who lead real lives and who love life despite all its tribulations -- all have one thing in common: They hate to reset their clocks twice a year.

Moreover, these good folks can't understand why it's so hard to put a stop to it.

Thank goodness, some of those upstanding folks have garnered more votes than everyone else and got themselves elected to the Missouri General Assembly.

Will wonders never cease?

As expected, there are some legislators who say Missouri can't go to year-round daylight saving time all by itself. How would people avoid confusion in places like the St. Louis or Kansas City metro areas, which straddle state lines.

Quite frankly, my dear, I don't give a darn about the people of Illinois and Kansas in this particular situation. If they had a shred of gumption they would be pounding on their state legislators to do exactly the same thing: Get rid of this nasty clock-resetting nonsense.

Besides, are we so lamebrained that we can't figure out how to make school schedules and open businesses and start concerts when our neighbors are an hour ahead or behind us? Of course we can figure this out. That's why school superintendents get paid so well. They know how to change bus schedules to take advantage of daylight hours when students head for their bus stops. If I can do it, surely someone with a doctorate in school administration could give it a go.

A while back I wrote about the time-shifting world we live in, and I suggested we might want to take a look at China, which spans multiple time zones yet has only one time -- China time -- for the whole country. When it's noon in Beijing, it's noon everywhere in China.

I don't know if I want to go this far, and I sure as heck doubt there is any Missouri elected official willing to be so bold. But going to one official time that never changes for the entire state has the gutsy appeal you ordinarily can only dream of.

The sponsor of the bill to put Missouri on permanent daylight saving time is Rep. Mike Kelley, a Republican from Lamar. Maybe you've never heard of Lamar. It's a small county seat over on the far west-central side of Missouri. It is proud to be the birthplace of Harry S. Truman. Remember him? He's the president who had this sign on his desk: The buck stops here.

It sure does. It looks to me like Rep. Kelley has benefited from drinking from the municipal waterworks in good, old Lamar, Missouri. Let's bottle that stuff up and pass it around in the marble halls of our state Capitol.

Other states are thinking about making the same bold move as proposed by Kelley. Arizona and Hawaii stick to the same standard time year-round. They don't mess with daylight saving time. That's fine. At least they had enough steel in their spine to put a stop to the twice-a-year time changes that rile us up so much.

If you want to do something useful, contact your state representative, your state senator, the governor's office or anyone who contributes thousands of dollars to politicians and make them understand you support year-round daylight saving time. Tell them you'll back that up with your vote.

Wouldn't that be something? Voters actually taking control of their own destiny? How long has it been since we stood up for ourselves?

No more changing our clocks after next year. Doesn't that sound sweet?

Do I hear choirs of angels?

Joe Sullivan is the retired editor of the Southeast Missourian.