Daylight Satan's Time

2010 will go down as the year Daylight Savings Time really began to worry me.

Of course, much of my alienation from the mainstream of political discourse in these United States is rooted in the fact I am a single-issue voter, and that one issue is opposition to DST. This year's great leap forward hit as hard as any I can remember not only because Big Government deprived me of an hour's sleep, but also because Foster Baby woke up crying twice that night, and Thing One and Thing Two behaved riotously for a couple hours past bedtime Sunday evening. To be clear, however, my opposition to DST is principled, not merely a sleep-deprived spirit of vengeance.

For starters, the whole ritual is annoying: it's a gigantic pain in the hindquarters to locate and change all the clocks and watches in one's life. And at what gain? Any energy saved by having more daylight during the evening hours is offset by concomitantly increased heating and cooling costs. In addition, studies have shown an increase in traffic accidents the Monday mornings following a "time change" (as though time could be changed).

Rather than accept the given order of things, though, Big Government has to tinker with reality, certain it can come up with something better, evidence to the contrary notwithstanding. This arrogance finds it clearest expression in the choice of day on which to implement the change: Sunday. At the very least, one might hope the civil magistrate would respect another institution ordained by God, but instead it chooses to make it that much harder for people to show up on time for services.

(Why is it we often see members arrive an hour late in the spring, but never an hour early in the fall?)

In addition, I think there's a rather serious theological point to be made, one which emerged as I was reading Genesis 1 last year. God created the sun, moon, and stars to order the years and seasons: that is, the progress of time. Time is not, therefore, a social construct which we can change by common consent; it is part of the created order. I think it ironic, but not accidental, that from autumn to spring we are in "standard time." Daylight Savings Time is, by definition, deviation from the standard and, accordingly, a perversion.

And this is why I'm worried. I understand my obsession with this topic is, or at least ought be, a cranky preoccupation. But for the life of me, it daily appears a more and more serious matter, and I think everyone should not only pay attention, but object strenuously. I know I sound like a crank, like the kind of person who tediously holds forth on the merits of the gold standard and the moral hazards of fiat currency, but I can't stop myself. 2010 may be the year in which I slip past an ironic posture in to full-fledged, absolutely sincere curmudgeonry.

And, William Jennings Bryan notwithstanding, I find I do have a few things to say about the gold standard...