SuperMajority Sunday: Standard Time & the US Public Policy Leaderboard #46

Do you think we should stop changing clocks twice a year? Let’s find out where Permanent Standard Time, to stop jetlagging 340 million Americans and their pets twice a year, landed on the US Public Policy Leaderboard. Welcome to SuperMajority Sunday, when we update the (US-PPL) and the Sweet Sixteen Solutions for Us People—the Silent SuperMajority.

Why
Standard Time?

Standard Time Forever Was the Clear Winner: Prioritizing natural light in the morning aligns with human biology, promoting healthier sleep patterns and increased productivity. It prioritizes health and harmony over powerful special interests and night owl hooting.

Conversely, shifting hours artificially through Daylight Savings Time Forever increases risks like heart attacks, disrupts circadian rhythms, makes people grumpy, and increases AC energy use as the world grows warmer. Scheduling time changes and/or DSTF is just another way for the few in government to pick winners and losers and ignore the silent supermajority.

How Did
DST Rise?

Daylight Saving Time (DST) originated during the World Wars to conserve energy by reducing evening artificial lighting. Contrary to myths, DST wasn’t for farmers; most even oppose it. The war-driven need for DST has long passed.

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 a bigger problem.

Both parties
benefit from crime

The Democrats squawk softly on crime, and their constituents benefit from government jobs to deal with it. The Republicans squawk loudly about crime but don’t pass any systemic solutions, and their constituents profit from privatized prisons and weapon sales.

Two Better
Crime Solutions

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. More on both WELCOME and the P50L below, as they are both US-PPL worthy.

Permanent Standard Time
Nonpartisan Score
The Clear Winner

POLI forecasted support as a NEAR CONSENSUS. Our editors were a bit less convinced; we predict a 71% ±5 (13 roles) STRONG SUPERMAJORITY of roles in this country to support Permanent Standard Time, including a majority of each of the four sides of the political table, making this a US Public Policy Leaderboard (US-PPL) worthy idea.

Psst, Permanent Standard Time (PST) lands at #31 on the US-PPL and is one of the four darlings of the Center-Left sharp corner of the Politically Balanced Table.

50% – 59% Majority
60% – 66% Supermajority
67% – 74% STRONG SUPERMAJORITY
75% -79% Vast Supermajority
80% – 89% NEAR CONSENSUS
90% and up Near Unanimous

By Contrast

Permanent Daylight Savings Time scored 66% ±7% (18 roles) with a majority of each of only three, NOT four sides of the political table. So, Permanent Daylight Savings Time failed to make it onto the US Public Policy Leaderboard.

SCOTUS’s approval rating is 40%,
the media is 27%, and
Congress is 13%.

The average score of the policies on the PolicyKeys™ US Public Policy Leaderboard (US-PPL) Sweet Sixteen is 76%, with many above 80%—Politics 4.0 is already a 2x to 5x better model of US political sentiment and direction than politics as usual.

THIS WEEK’S
US Public Policy
Leaderboard Update
(US-PPL)

Here are four leading solutions for ‘us people’ from each sharp corner of the political table.

The Sweet Sixteen

Strong
Status Quo Bias
(Free Market &
States’ Rights)

#4 SMR Nuclear Reactors
(82% Super Nonpartisan Score)

We need to scale new, smaller, modular, safer SMR nuclear power for energy independence, not depend exclusively on any energy source, protect commerce from the devastating effects of severe weather, and bring affordable, abundant, dependable energy to underserved markets.

While there is great potential for fusion, astro-electricity, and battery technology—it will take decades or even a century to realize, and SMR nuclear can be bridge energy. Update: AI takes an extraordinary amount of power, and since that genie is out of the bottle, it needs to be fed with reliable, uninterruptable electricity. Update: There was a setback this week; the Idaho SMR was mutually terminated by the DOE and the operator. Many other competing projects are still viable.

#12 The WELCOME
MIDDLE-CLASS ACT
(78% Super Nonpartisan Score)

WELCOME! Pay full-time employees a living wage with the taxes the government would have otherwise destroyed. The Willing Employer Living Compensation Exemption eliminates the corporate tax for all but the largest, most profitable companies.

It would surge demand for middle-class goods and services, significantly reduce unnecessary public assistance projects, and lower taxes because of lower crime. America is exceptional enough to build enough capacity to keep inflation in check in the long run.

#17 End Sugar Subsidies
(76% Super Nonpartisan Score)

Sugar subsidies distort free markets, cost billions, increase health problems, and ill health saps productivity from the workplace—that’s not what our tax dollars should be spent on. Sweet! One of the many earmarks that could be cut out of the Federal budget to avert a shutdown or catastrophic debt default.

#21 Let the States
Control Their Immigration
(75% Super Nonpartisan Score)

One size doesn’t fit all for Immigration; some States need to Terminate immigration, some States need to Accelerate immigration, and others need to Pause immigration. Local TAP Legal Immigration solves most of the legal immigration problem. Immigration is probably the best way to lower inflation while keeping the economy moving.

Center Right
Status Quo Bias
(Private/Public Partnerships)

#1 The Great Penny Meltdown
(86% Super Nonpartisan Score)

It is time to stop wasting useful metals on useless coins; there is little to no reason to dig up zinc, spend two cents to make a penny, and then bury them in penny jars to gather dust. This is the same as paying people to dig holes and fill them back in. It’s sapping the country’s productivity and resources. Update: Breakthroughs in zinc battery technology make this even more urgent. One of the many areas of bipartisan waste that could be cut out of the Federal budget to avert a shutdown or catastrophic debt default.

#8 Social Security Force
(80% Super Nonpartisan Score)

The Social Security Fund should invest 25% of its reserves into US index funds. Stocks historically outperform bonds by 2x, and instead of every market recession or depression making the top decile richer, the SS Fund can buy on dips and assure a solid retirement for all our hard-working citizens. This would make the SS Fund the biggest whale in the stock market, displacing just a few private firms and putting a reliable floor under the market during panics. A flush social security fund would avert it going into the red. Update: We are currently in a stock market correction. What a great time for the Social Security Fund to solve its own liquidity crisis by buying low and highlighting all Americans’ retirements.

#22 Pathway to Residency
(75% Super Nonpartisan Score)

Americans don’t want to do the 10 million open jobs because the work is tedious, low pay, grimy, and sweaty. Immigrants are willing to do those jobs as a foothold on a better life for themselves and their descendants. We already have 11 million illegal immigrants, aka undocumented workers, in the country. It’s a waste of human capital and an international competitive disadvantage not to put them to work with a pathway to citizenship. Now, many are being paid under the table and are not paying their fair share of taxes, yet another way to avert a catastrophic debt default. Commerce has a labor shortage crisis due to low birth rates. The solution is a pen swipe away.

#33 Quick Set
Transitional Housing
(70% Super Nonpartisan Score)

There are two kinds of homelessness: those who can’t or won’t work full-time and those who can and want to work full-time but the jobs aren’t accessible due to proximity, skills, shelter, or support services. Changing zoning laws to allow housing in, next to, or near industrial parks solves the problem almost immediately. Note: One or two 72-room apartment buildings per county are all that’s needed. Quick SET handles the three problems of Shelter, Employment, and Transportation for those in need.

Center Left
Change Bias
(Public/Private Partnerships)

#11 The Abortion SCALE Act
(78% Super Nonpartisan Score)

Now that the FDA has approved OTC Birth Control (‘us people’ won!), the Abortion SCALE Act (Structured Compassionate Abortion Law Endorsement) is on the Sweet Sixteen recap. The Abortion SCALE Act allows for a woman to choose until the 16th week, from the 17th to 23rd week* abortion is semi-legal with enhanced informed consent and a 72-hour hold, and illegal after week 24* when a fetus would be viable outside the womb (an unborn citizen). The only exceptions being to save the mother’s life, a fetus becomes non-viable, or in the cases of rape or incest. *Note: Recently, twins born at 21 weeks survived, so the 23-week benchmark might be lowered to 20 weeks, and new artificial womb technology may make this more common. Note: We’re preparing a week’s worth of articles on the Pro-Family Act to nurture the raising of children.

#30 A Grand Supreme Court
(71% Super Nonpartisan Score)

Having lifetime appointed justices when the average lifespan was 35 years is quite different, with the advent of 100+ year lifespans just around the corner due to new life extension technologies. A court is supposed to be impartial, not partisan football. A much more judicious solution is eighteen-year term limits with staggered starts every two years in nonelection years, 18 to 23 Justices like a grand jury, a pre-vetted pool maintained by a nonpartisan commission, and a lottery if Congress and the President won’t do their jobs. There are supposed to be three branches of government, not two parrots stacking the legal deck.

#40 Truly OPEN Primaries
(67% Super Nonpartisan Score)

Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that there’s two-party rule. There are more Independents than Democrats or Republicans. There should be one primary election for all candidates running for office, and all citizens can cast their ballots for the top two to five candidates regardless of party affiliation that they approve of to go onto the general election. That way, the winner will be the candidate the most people approve of instead of the candidate we all hate the least.

#31 Permanent Standard Time
(71% Super Nonpartisan Score)

We did puzzles on both Permanent Daylight Savings Time and Ending Daylight Saving Time, and the latter was a clear winner. Permanent Standard Time will increase sleep and productivity, decrease health costs, and stop jet-lagging the country twice a year. Tired people are less empathetic, which seems to go against the Golden Rule.

Strong
Change Bias
(Pro-Active
National Government)

#6 Fraud-Free Guaranteed Vote
(81% Super Nonpartisan Score)

If you choose to vote, getting a voter ID should be a frictionless path. Then, you may get a mail-in ballot to help avoid the long lines on election day. If you mail the ballot by the election day deadline, it will be counted. No more listening to political parrots squawking about voter rights vs. voter fraud. May the best candidate win.

#7 Parking Lots of Shade
(80% Super Nonpartisan Score)

Solar canopies over sunny parking lots. It’s a no-brainer. No undeveloped land is used for energy production that could be used for some other human need like housing or growing food. It will keep cars cooler, less sun damage, less energy used to cool them, and even give some shelter from the rain. Solar installations eventually pay for themselves, so they are thrifty, too.

#18 Increase the EITC to P50L
(75% Super Nonpartisan Score)

Many industries don’t have the margin to pay a living wage, so increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit for full-time workers to halfway (50%) between the Poverty line (P) and the Living Wage (L) would solve the problem for the working poor. America’s shrinking middle class is a national embarrassment for both political parties.

They blame each other, but let’s face it: both parties have had total control of the House, Senate, and White House over the decades, so both are to blame. A full-time working couple should crest a living wage, with no marriage penalty, while a single person could work a few hours of overtime each week to achieve a living wage.

#24 HOPE Drug Harm Reduction
(74% Super Nonpartisan Score)

Illegal drug use is way more a health issue than a criminal one. Treating drug users like criminals is cruel unless they commit crimes unrelated to trafficking or other felonies. It is also less expensive to send a drug abuser to rehab than jail. One of the many areas of bipartisan waste that could be cut out of the Federal budget to avert a shutdown or catastrophic debt default.

Super Nonpartisan
Conclusion

Interestingly, The WELCOME Employer Tax Credit to pay a living wage and the P50L EITC to boost the working poor closer to a living wage, at the end of the day, have almost the same effect on raising the middle class and the deficit/surplus, but here’s the weird thing—partisans on both sides of the aisle may vehemently oppose the “other” solution. Psst, they are both leaderboard-worthy solutions. The parrots are just fighting and can’t stop.

Shockingly, on the left, either WELCOME or the P50L would essentially end wage discrimination for full-time working people up to the median income level—almost instantaneously. But the left will complain that WELCOME makes people work full-time, and corporations must pay their taxes.

Shockingly, on the right, either WELCOME or the P50L would make commerce boom, as there is no better way to get an economy humming than a vibrant middle class. But the right will complain that the P50L has some people’s spending subsidized by the government, and that’s not fair.

Most shockingly, the US crime cost is between $680B and $3.41T yearly, probably 2x – 10x more expensive than WELCOME or the P50L. People making a living wage aren’t knocking off liquor stores or gas stations. Child poverty alone costs America over $1T annually, and most domestic violence is about money. One thing’s for sure: a coin flip on these two solutions would be better than political parrots squawking about high crime and a shrinking middle class for yet another decade.

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?)

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. Next, Politics 3.0 is all the noise from special interest groups trying to influence us to see things their way. Finally, Politics 4.0 ranks solutions with a nonpartisan score and lets the best ideas rise up the leaderboard so 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.

A Level Playing Field

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.

The Four Laws of
Public Policy Formation

The First Law of Public Policy Formation is that people with short-term focus will naturally protect their wages, jobs, status, profits, and wealth.

The Second Law of Public Policy Formation is that people with a longer-term focus place bets to make life better, longer, easier, or different.

The Third Law of Public Policy Formation is that the clash between the short-term and long-term causes noise, angst, conflict, and harm.

The Fourth Law of Public Policy Formation is to take into account various solutions’ nonpartisan scores before making up your own mind.

A 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.

Definition of
Political Parrots

Are you making up your own mind or marching to the beat of a political parrot?

Political Parrots get paid to squawk the same thing over and over again.
They don’t listen if you’re not paying.
They don’t fully understand what they’re saying.
They are charming and sport every color.

We look to filter out the GRIFTERS, Gaslighting, Red-herrings, Idolizing, False-dilemmas, Tunnel-vision, Exclusions, Reductions, and Straw-man arguments. We think you can think for yourself. Where can we agree?

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.

The engine for the AI is our One Page Narrative Tool (OPNT) which 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.