Daylight saving time does not save any daylight. There’s the same amount no matter what the clock says.

The concept has been around since World War I when it was introduced as a means to conserve fuel used to generate electricity by extending sunlight into evening hours.

Most people are more familiar with the annual spring-forward, fall-back cycle than any real impact the effort provides.

Except, of course, the fact it’s a hassle and can throw off the body’s daily rhythms.

Two Republican legislators, Brandon Reed of Hodgenville and Bart Rowland of Tompkinsville, want to put Kentucky clocks on daylight time and lock it in.

In an explanation introducing their bill to the General Assembly, they cited studies related to criminal activity and public health to make their case. Opponents surely will point to the late morning arrival of dawn in winter months and express concern about children waiting for school buses and other early-rising issues.

The immediate public interest seemed to be positive. Most people simply are ready to embrace a year-round means to measure time and lock it in. The support is about avoiding the clock-changing hassle.

If the bill is adopted, Kentucky would be joining a movement favoring 12-month daylight saving time. It has drawn support across the country, including endorsement from President Donald Trump. More than a dozen states have taken up measures since Florida stepped out in 2018 and became the first to approve a bill aimed at a year-round time.

It’s important to realize Reed and Rowland’s bill has no actual enforcement authority. It only would express Kentucky’s interest in a universal time if the federal government deems that acceptable.

This small matter is symbolic of the upside-down republic which America has become.

Unlike the vision of the founders of a limited federal government ordained and established by the states, the reverse is true today. We have a powerful, top-down bureaucracy that controls even the most minor elements of our lives — right down to what we can do with our wristwatches.

It’s time for more adjustments than simply our clocks.

— The (Elizabethtown, Kentucky) News-Enterprise