On the surface, there’s a measure working its way through Congress that blurs the hard red-and-blue boundaries that divide the United States.

The Sunshine Protection Act would make Daylight Saving Time permanent, eliminating the “springing forward” and “falling back” that we do every year.

There is broad support for the move. An AP-NORC poll conducted in October found only 12% of Americans favor the current system, while 47% oppose it.

Colorado is one of 19 states that has already voted in favor of permanent Daylight Saving Time, with the legislature passing House Bill 22-1297 in 2022 and Gov. Jared Polis signing it into law.

The other 18 states include blue bastions other than Colorado. Washington, Delaware, Maine and Oregon have all passed similar acts.

But Republican-run states are also aboard. Texas, Oklahoma, Wyoming and nearly the entire Deep South are among the red redoubts that have come out in favor of eliminating the time changes.

All of these states can’t enact the measure on their own. Federal approval is required to bring the law to fruition.

President Donald Trump voiced his support for the measure in May. That’s where the aforementioned harmony dissolves.

There are those among us who will support anything Trump tells them to support, no matter how unreasonable. There are those also among us who will oppose anything related to Trump, no matter how reasonable. If Trump singlehandedly cured cancer, that group would excoriate him for recklessly contributing to world overpopulation.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the act 308-117 a couple of weeks ago. The bill has moved to the Senate for consideration. Will Democrat senators, particularly those from states that have already shown support, vote for the bill or will their need to oppose Trump override what their state has already approved?

It will be interesting to watch.

I don’t have a strong opinion either way, but I sure wish it had been in effect when I was in the Air Force. We security policemen (now called security specialists) worked three swing (3-11 p.m.) shifts followed by three mid (11 p.m. – 7 a.m.) shifts and then three days off. By a strange quirk of the calendar, C Flight Security worked three straight “fall back” midnight shifts, which meant an extra hour each autumn.

Our flight chief, SSgt Smith, took pleasure in rubbing it in.

“Security 1 to Control, time check,” he would call in just before the time change. He would get his answer. Exactly one hour later he would do it again. Of course, he would get the same answer.

“Time sure is dragging tonight,” he would respond. We all groaned.

Smith had another quirk. We had security exercises every night where the flight chief would cause havoc somewhere and evaluate our response. He created an alter ego for the exercises, “Swish Swash” the terrorist.

Sometime in the middle of our shift, we would hear the words “Swish Swash” over our Motorola two-way radios. That would put us on our toes for the mischief to follow.

That, of course, has nothing to do with Daylight Savings Time. That might show you how little I care about this particular issue with the exception of the unity we have found up to this point.

We’ll see if that unity can carry into the Senate.