The Death Of Dawn Patrol?

Election day in the United States in less than a month away! It’s a magical chance for every good citizen to make his or her voice heard, kinda, and to shape the world in which they live. Sorta.

National politics may capture the majority of media attention, but it’s the state and local scenes that matter most. Local politics shape your immediate world and the resulting consequences eventually leak into the national identity.

Of note on California’s ballot is Proposition 7, a measure which could potentially, eventually, make Daylight Saving Time permanent within the Golden State. DST currently runs from the second Sunday in March until the first Sunday in November, if the Proposition passes it would allow the state to institute DST year-round. There’d be no more struggling to remember, “Spring forward or fall back? What does that even mean?” No more showing up either late or early twice a year. No more changing clocks or receiving too-early phone calls from your mainland relatives who struggle to remember that there’s a fucking time difference between Hawaii and the mainland and it isn’t always the same.

It also means that, during the winter months, sunrise would take place around 7:30am in California. All the poor students and work-a-day souls who thrive on pre-responsibility dawn patrol sessions would be left with three options. Either paddle out in the pitch black, stop surfing before work/class, or keep showing up late until your ass is fired or failed.

Which sucks. For them.

(All photos taken from yesterday’s wind-enhanced dawn patrol in CA)

For those without school or normal 9-5 employment, it could mean a blessed respite from the ravenous hordes seeking a few fun slides before succumbing to daily drudgery. More empty parking spots, smaller crowds. A chance to text your buddies with solid careers and rub their faces in the fact that, while you may never own a home or get to retire, you scored some fun chest high swell with only a handful of your fellow loafers in attendance.

There is precedent for year-round DST. From 1942-45 the entire nation had permanent DST, labeled War Time, in an effort to save energy during World War 2. It was re-instituted in 1973 for a period of sixteen months by Richard Nixon as a response to the OPEC oil embargo.

The official argument in support of the measure states, in part:

“University medical studies in 2012 found that the risk of heart attacks increases by 10% in the two days following a time change.

In 2016, further research revealed that stroke risks increase 8% when we change our clocks. For cancer patients the stroke risk increases 25% and for people over age 65 stroke risk goes up 20%. All because we disrupt sleep patterns.

And every parent knows what it means when our children’s sleep patterns are disrupted twice a year…

Changing our clocks doesn’t change when the sun rises or sets. Nature does that. Summer days will always be longer. Winter days will stay shorter.

It should be noted that, even if Prop 7 passes, it does not mean that DST will necessarily, or even likely, become permanent. Approval of the proposition would send it to the state legislature, which requires a two-thirds majority to pass it. Furthermore, the Uniform Time Act of 1966, a federal law enacted to “promote the adoption and observance of uniform timewithin the standard timezones,” only allows states two options. They can observe DST for part of the year or, as is the case in Hawaii and Arizona, ignore it completely. Year-round DST is not currently an option.

In addition to receiving enough votes, and passing the state legislature, Federal Law would need to be changed in order for the proposition to have any actual impact. A cynical person could point to these facts as evidence of the proposition being nothing more than an exercise in pointless political grandstanding. Others might point out that stranger things have happened in our very recent past.

Because time is, like, totally a social construct, man, it seems likely that the correct choice is purely a matter of perspective. Those it benefits would dig it. Those it doesn’t, won’t.

So, which side are you on?