Forward-thinkers agree: It’s time to unite behind year-round daylight saving in Washington and whole U.S.

How will Americans of different political stripes ever come together when they’re as closed off as a clenched fist, fiercely clinging to issues that drive them further apart? Nobody wants to give an inch on the Mueller report, health care, immigration and a thousand other political flashpoints.

Fortunately, the answer to our national crisis of polarization has arrived just in time, blazing like a 9 p.m. sunset over the Olympic Mountains in the middle of a glorious Puget Sound summer.

Year-round daylight saving time.

The idea is catching on in both Washingtons. A bipartisan effort to ditch Pacific Standard Time is alive and well in Olympia, while the U.S. Sunshine Protection Act of 2019 has awakened broad interest — including from Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington — since being introduced by two Florida Republicans.

Even President Trump has endorsed the wisdom of resetting the nation’s clocks once and for all. Perhaps he relishes wielding the God-like power of altering time. Or he’s tired of trying to change the display on his DVD player twice a year. Or he just wants to play more late-evening rounds of golf at Mar-A-Lago.

“Making Daylight Saving Time permanent is O.K. with me!” Trump tweeted on March 11.

History may remember it as the most unifying gesture of his presidency.

But seriously, the U.S. has been gradually moving toward this outcome — we now enjoy an 8-month stretch of daylight saving — and there’s no point delaying the transition. I’m weary of having to reprogram my circadian rhythms every March and November like a self-destructive computer hacker, disrupting sleep, cognitive function, mood and health.

The Washington Legislature would do well to keep the momentum rolling after state lawmakers in Florida and voters in California got it started last year. Oregon is among the other states considering jumping aboard the year-round DST train.

Gov. Jay Inslee might want to latch on to it for his presidential campaign, if that whole climate change thing doesn’t get traction. It’s consistent with his conservation theme, since studies point to a decrease in energy use during the season of extra sunlight.

For now, the state legislation is in limbo. The House passed a bill on an 89-7 vote in early March, and the Senate followed with 46-3 support of a slightly different version.

I tip my hat to both chambers for exercising forward-thinking judgment — one hour forward, to be precise.

Both bills would switch Washington to permanent DST, but only after Congress passes, and the president signs, a law expressly permitting states to do so.

The main difference between the two versions is that the Senate’s would be sent to the November ballot. Giving voters the last word is a reasonable idea that respects history, since Washington’s original five-month DST period was enacted by initiative in 1961.

But I’m saddened legislators didn’t go for an amendment proposed by Republican Rep. Drew MacEwen, which would’ve pushed clocks forward another 15 minutes on the east side of the Cascades. The purpose? To ensure Washington State University is always ahead.

WSU needs all the help it can get, right? Go Cougs!

All jokes aside, more evening daylight makes sense for many reasons. It means more opportunity for family outings, youth sports practices and other outdoor activities. It frees people from the household electronics that hold them hostage all winter. It eliminates one of my excuses to get that fence project done.

It also means less opportunity for criminals who prowl under cover of night, less chance of vehicle accidents caused by poor visibility, and overall safer conditions for pedestrians and cyclists.

A state Board of Health representative testified at a recent hearing that there’s “strong evidence” making the switch would decrease heart attacks and strokes, though she said the evidence is mixed about effects on workplace accidents, mental health conditions or suicide risk.

Another school of thought contends there’s nothing fundamentally better about daylight saving time; it’s the herky-jerky pattern of springing forward and falling back that wreaks havoc.

The Washington State Psychiatric Association argues that if Washington wants to shift to a year-round timekeeping system, it should be Pacific Standard Time.

Dr. David Avery, a University of Washington psychiatry professor, says daylight saving time is a euphemism for “morning light reduction time” and an artificial increase in later sunrises would be hazardous to people’s health. “This proposal would create a mismatch between our social clocks and our biological clocks,” Avery writes.

Who am I to question his knowledge of human clockwork? One could argue that Washington voters should have a choice between two ballot proposals: Year-round DST or year-round PST.

But after weighing the tradeoffs, I’ll trust in the miraculous adaptability of the human body and take the extra 60 minutes of productive time on the back end of the day.

In the South Sound, opportunities to take advantage of it are boundless, from bike rides on the Foothills Trail, to strolls along Ruston Way, to golfing the new poa annua greens at Chambers Bay.

So let’s get on with it, Washington. John Wayne’s character in “The Cowboys” might have said it best: “We’re burnin’ daylight.”

News Tribune editorial page editor Matt Misterek can be reached at (253) 597-8472 or matt.misterek@thenewstribune.com

This story was originally published March 30, 2019 at 2:40 PM with the headline "Forward-thinkers agree: It’s time to unite behind year-round daylight saving in Washington and whole U.S.."