Benjamin Franklin invented Daylight Saving Time.*

John, this is why you shouldn’t get your facts from movies. ( 👀 Lookin at you, Nick Cage's National Treasure 👀 ).

As we all prepare ourselves to absorb more daylight like we're under-photosynthesized plant-based life forms, let's look at what Daylight Saving Time (DST) tells us about our broken system of government.

Just a few days ago, a bipartisan group of Senators introduced the Sunshine Protection Act to make DST permanent. More sunshine sounds great, right? But what if we told you that Daylight Saving Time is a prime example of special interest-driven government corruption?

This is why we fight corruption wherever we find it, city by city, state by state. Can you make a one-time contribution to help us get government working for the people like it's supposed to?

Special interests, huh? Did you first think "farmers" like we were taught in grade school? NOPE. It's corporate lobbyists again. It's always corporate lobbyists.

The National Daylight Saving Time Coalition has been responsible for pushing to keep this antiquated system in the name of larger corporate profits.¹

Meanwhile, changing the clocks around twice yearly leads to an uptick in everything from traffic accidents to heart attacks and miscarriages.² Not to mention making our babies and pets even fussier.

Pretty much everyone dislikes changing the clocks around. So why don't we do something about it?

Because government corruption, sleepyhead.

Whether you want permanent DST (a boon to industry) or sticking with Standard Time (like the sleep scientists and early risers say we should do), it seems Congress can't decide because the special interest noise is too loud.

Help us fight this kind of corruption and get government working to pass even simple solutions like deciding on what actual time it is. Make a one-time contribution to fuel our anti-corruption work.

This might seem a little silly, but it's a perfect example of what's wrong with our political system and why we fight so hard to fix it. Even something as popular as ending the practice of changing our clocks twice a year gets muddy and difficult because of special interest influence.

We're glad we have a bipartisan bill to change this. We love bipartisanship.

It's just very typical that it takes lobbyist influence to make it happen.

That's why we do what we do and we need you to be a part of it.

-The RepresentUs Team

_{[1] "Who Really Benefits from Daylight Saving Time?" The Takeaway Podcast, WYNC Studios
[2] "Freezing the clock: Nationwide push for permanent daylight saving time gains momentum", Washington Post}

_{*he didn’t}