Most people want to stop changing clocks twice a year, but early birds prefer standard time, and night owls prefer daylight savings time. Which is best?Welcome to Puzzle Drop Monday. This week’s political flap and flight of articles is about making Standard Time Permanent. Of course, Political Parrots squawk we should just keep jet-lagging 340 million Americans, and their pets, twice a year.
Why
Standard Time?
Standard Time Forever: Prioritizing natural light in the morning aligns with human biology, promoting healthier sleep patterns and increased productivity.
Shifting hours artificially through Daylight Savings Time increases risks like heart attacks, disrupts circadian rhythms, makes people grumpy, and yields inconsistent energy savings across states.
With commerce and technology evolving, the original reasons for DST have diminished. Embracing Standard Time, consistent and unchanging, promotes both societal well-being and environmental balance. It prioritizes health and harmony over powerful special interests and night owl hooting.
How Did
DST Rise?
Daylight Saving Time (DST) originated during the World Wars to conserve energy by reducing evening artificial lighting. Today, studies show minimal energy savings from DST. Contrary to myths, DST wasn’t for farmers; most even oppose it. The war-driven need for DST has long passed. With societal and technological changes, like WFH, the once-valid reasons for DST have diminished, making it crucial to reevaluate its present-day relevance.
Today, Night owls prefer it lighter into the evening, and certain industries benefit. Crime may be lower during DST, but that’s a band-aid on the problem. The WELCOME Employer Living Wage Tax Credit and/or the P50L Earned Income Tax Credit are systemic solutions to crime, making DST as a crime deterrent moot.
This Week’s Puzzle
Permanent Standard Time
Many people are dissatisfied with changing the clocks twice yearly, but we’ve been doing it for so long that it’s just become a habit.
Early birds like it lighter earlier in the day and prefer Standard Time (ST), but Night owls like it lighter late into the evening and prefer making Daylight Savings Time (DST) permanent.
The effects on energy usage are unclear because savings on lighting and increased air conditioning seem to counteract each other depending on the State’s location.
ONE PARROT shines that commerce will go down, and crime will go up with ST forever.
THE OTHER PARROT rises with better health from better sleep and less misery if ST is permanent.
What score will our nonpartisan rating system give, making Standard Time Permanent by sunsetting Daylight Savings Time?
Expanded
Key ‘YES’
Reasons
In-Favor
of Permanent Standard Time
Most people like to get up when it’s light (1) because it aligns with our natural circadian rhythm, improving mood and energy levels.
Employers can adjust their own workday (3) because flexibility can enhance employee satisfaction and optimize work hours for different markets.
DST may increase AC use in some States (5) because longer daylight hours can lead to increased indoor temperatures in the evenings.
Time changes cause car accidents & heart attacks (7) because the sudden shift can disrupt sleep patterns, affecting alertness and cardiac health.
DST is confusing to our trading partners (9) because synchronized hours can simplify business communications and transactions.
Less health insurance payouts (11) because the reduced risks associated with consistent sleep patterns can lead to fewer health issues.
70% want one or the other, no changing (13) because frequent shifts can be confusing and interrupt routines.
Sleep is paramount for health & productivity (15) because consistent sleep improves cognitive function and overall well-being.
EVEN MORE KEY ‘YES’ REASONS
Less cancer, obesity, depression & diabetes (17) because stable sleep patterns support metabolic health and mental well-being.
DST increases fuel consumption (19) because longer daylight can encourage more evening activities and travel.
Lower Alcohol and Tobacco consumption (21) because a consistent schedule may reduce stress-induced habits.
Kids don’t have to go to school in the dark (23) because it ensures their safety and supports their natural sleep patterns.
DST makes media consumption go down (25) because extended daylight can encourage outdoor activities over screen time.
100% Daylight Savings Time failed in 1974 (27) because it didn’t yield the expected energy savings and faced public backlash.
Many farmers need more light in the morning (29) because it aids in tending to crops and livestock during crucial hours.
Increased commerce is bad for the environment (31) because excessive consumption can lead to increased waste and carbon emissions.
Expanded
Key ‘NO’
Reasons Against
Permanent Standard Time
Older people prefer DST (2) because it can offer more daylight for evening activities, suiting their routines.
DST increases consumer buying & creates jobs (4) because extended shopping hours can stimulate economic activity.
DST may decrease electrical lighting use (6) because of extended natural daylight, potentially reducing energy bills.
Heart attack increases in the fall might be seasonal (8) because there’s a lot of noise in the data.
Makes working with the Pacific Rim more difficult (10) because it can create wider time gaps, complicating business coordination.
Higher health insurance premiums (12) because time shifts can result in more accidents and health issues.
WFH makes time changes less important (14) because remote workers often have more flexible schedules.
Later daylight is better for productivity (16) because getting up in the dark naturally extends the workday.
EVEN MORE KEY ‘NO’ REASONS
Busier after-work traffic is safer when lighter (18) because visibility is enhanced, reducing accident risks.
States on time zone cusps can adjust (20) because they can choose what suits their geographic and economic conditions best.
DST reduces crime, especially in the PM (22), because criminals often operate under the cover of darkness.
Kids have more time to play after school (24) because extended daylight allows for more recreational activities.
Hospitals need the sick & injured to maintain capacity (26) because stable patient inflow ensures efficient resource allocation.
Workers need cooler mornings because of warming (28) because it aids in performing tasks efficiently, avoiding heat stress.
DST helps farmers go to market (30) because they can transport produce in daylight, ensuring safety and freshness.
The controversy raises campaign donations (32) because polarizing issues often mobilize supporters on both sides.
PolicyKeys
Four Ways
Here’s the PLAN: For you People-people, you can enjoy real-life political role-playing at PolicyKeys.com. Sit awhile in each role’s chair and decide whether a majority of people in that role would be for or against the solution. Empathy is power. In the classroom, PolicyKeys is a team sport.
For you Letter-people, we publish daily on this Super Nonpartisan Public Policy Blog. It’s like a color commentary on the big game. Or a juicy menu to order up your favorite solutions. You can check out the US Public Policy Leaderboard (US-PPL) and the sweet sixteen updates every SuperMajority Sunday.
For you Abstract-people, we’ve invented a nonpartisan scoring system to include 128 roles, four laws of public policy formation, two levels of pattern-seeking AI, forecasting science, and a treasure hunt for the highest-rated solution to every public policy puzzle. We’re open to public and/or private sector solutions. Are you?
And, four you Numbers-people, all our solutions add up in the POL-ICYMI Key for each week’s puzzle. What stats are to baseball, PolicyKeys is to Public Policy. We publish a new BOX Score every Friday.
Methodology
Politics 1.0 is each party wanting to be a one-party system. Then, Politics 2.0 is the two-party gridlock that blocks the silent supermajority from getting what they need. Politics 3.0 is all the noise from special interest groups trying to influence us to see things their way. Politics 4.0 is to rank solutions with a nonpartisan score and let the best ideas rise up the leaderboard so the people can choose.
Our One-Page Narrative Tool, game board, and AI are based on a ground truth:
There’s a time to save
and a time to spend,
a time for freedom
and a time for laws.
Where can we agree?
This yields four legs of the political table: Abundance, Thrift, Governance, and Commerce, poetically our Political DNA, ACGT.
The four sides of the table are…
Abundance Governance (AG)
National Public Sector and NGOs,
Abundance Commerce (AC)
Technology and New Businesses,
Thrift Government (TG)
Local Municipalities, Guilds, and Consumers, and
Thrift Commerce (TC)
Established Supply Chains and Jobs.
Each side has a bias for change and a bias for the status quo. We scan these eight Information Walls for Key YES and NO Reasons, no cherry-picking.
Treasure Hunt
We search for solutions with the highest hypothetical nonpartisan rating. Something that would solve 80% of the problem with the simplest 20% solution. The Pareto principle, hence a parrot-topia.
The Political Parrots have a Key reason they don’t want us to know about because it ruins their argument. We search for these, like a treasure hunt, and sort them using our EMIT format: Emotions, Money, Information, and Timespan. We listen for these key signals in the political noise.
Key Reasons can look similar, so we edit for redundancy and look for errors, omissions, and innovations.
Political Parrots say the same thing over and over and over again. We look to filter out the GRIFTERS, Gaslighting, Red-herrings, Idolizing, False-dilemmas, Tunnel-vision, Exclusions, Reductions, and Straw-man arguments.
Birds of a Feather AI
Once the Key Reasons are set, we prescore the puzzle using the Birds of a Feather AI for loose ties to beliefs, attitudes, values, and ethics. Over 16 million combinations are possible for the 128 roles. The game board starts balanced at zero, with an equal bias for change and the status quo.
We then prescore the puzzle using 56 arch-type roles that best embody each of the 56 loose ties. This yields a general bias for change or status quo and reveals ties.
The editors review all 128 roles for specific reasons and overrule the general AI where necessary. These are noted in the Tuesday Tiebreaker article.
Then, we score the puzzle on all four sides of the Political Table: eight Information Walls, sixteen Subcultural Windows, sixteen Bias Columns, and sixteen Influence Rows.
SAT9 AI
When the scoring is done, a second AI looks for inconsistencies using the SAT9 AI filter (Situational Assessment Tool). This is 256 ‘supreme courts’ where each role is the chief justice in a presumed 5-4 and 4-5 bench. This generates a ± error margin.
This is all done on a One Page Narrative Tool (OPNT) that we gamified for role-playing at policykeys.com. We call our AI, POLI for Political Omnibus Leadership Initiative.
You can read more about PolicyKeys™ in the upcoming book, Politics 4.0: How Gamification, AI, and National Idea Leaderboards Can Help You Depolarize the World. The Observatory of Public Sector Innovation (OPSI) at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has recognized PolicyKeys™ for digital engagement.
Weekly
Puzzle
A new PolicyKeys™
Where Can We Agree?® puzzle
drops every
Monday at 7 a.m. Eastern at PolicyKeys.com
PolicyKeys™ Where Can We Agree? is a real-life role-playing game. Each week, there are sixteen sets of eight ‘rival’ roles. Sit awhile in each of their eight chairs and predict whether a majority of people in those roles would say Yes or No to the week’s question.
The best ideas land on the US Public Policy Leaderboard (US-PPL) if a majority of each of the four sides of the political table agree. You can play this week’s puzzle at PolicyKeys.com.
Cue the
Patriotic Music
Imagine an America not paralyzed by political squawking. A Parrot-otopia oasis in a desert of division. Where the sounds of the silent super-majority drown out the droning of the hyper-partisan parrots.
We’ll be freed from the cages of entrenched ideology to fly higher in the big sky of American beliefs, attitudes, values, and ethics. To boldly go where no political parrot has gone before—rating solutions with a nonpartisan score.
Anthem
Where Can We Agree?
(Why Don’t You Want To Know?)
Fly
higher
DST Increases Heart Attacks 24%
BMJ Journals
US Exports to the East and West about Equal
Trading Economics
What Would Happen If We Got Rid of Daylight Saving Time?
Reader’s Digest
It’s Time to Put DST to Bed
Modern Farmer
Does DST Save Energy?
Yale
DST Time’s Side Effects Prevention
Am Trust Financial
Fighting Crime With DST
Brookings
Daylight Savings Time is Actually a Good Thing
Popular Mechanics
Standard Time is Better
Herf.Medium
71% Want to Stop Changing the Clock Twice a Year
AP-NORC Poll
Treasure Chest of Sources In Favor of Standard Time
Save Standard Time
The Case for Permanent Standard Time
The Hill
Daylight Savings Time is Controversial
Business Insider
Shedding Light on DST Revenues
JP Morgan Chase
10 Things You Didn’t Know About DST
Country Living
Texas Votes for Permanent DST
Texas Tribune
DST is Hurting Your Health & Should Be Abolished
Fortune
DST was once known as War Time
Department of Defense
DST is Good For Business
NCAS
It takes guts to look at things from all four sides of the political table.
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