Time and Tide

"Time and tide wait for no man."

So says the ancient wisdom. How true...

Or is it?

Last time, I posted a tribute to our elected representatives. I wanted to commend them for standing up to pressure that arises every Spring when Daylight Saving Time goes into effect, and heroically refusing to repeal this measure despite all the complaining they hear. Once again they have faced the challenge, and faced it down.

With this bit of courage to inspire them, the progressive wing of our Congress has moved to the next level. They intend to face down the old proverb, and show that determined government action can defy the conventional wisdom.

We are witnessing the creation of the Federal Time Bank.

No one can deny that time is unfairly distributed in the world today. Young mothers never have enough time to do everything they want to do. The unemployed and the aged have too much time on their hands. This fact seems to be true for too many young men and women in our country as well. Busy corporate executives have too much to do to get it all done in the standard 24-hour day, even with assistants and aides all around. Three-year-olds certainly have too much to do and say to get it all accomplished in a mere 24 hours. Nobody seems to have just the right amount of time for what they want to complete before they have to finally go to sleep.

Well, that is old news. With the Federal Time Bank, everyone will have the opportunity to have just as much time as they need.

Time will be bought from those with too much on their hands, and deposited into a new Federal agency. Since time is money, the storehouse of time will become an incredibly valuable resource for the entire nation. Those Americans who just don't have enough time will now be able to buy blocks of time, at a slightly higher price than what was paid to the original time-holders, and the dream of a 30-hour, or 36-hour, or even 48-hour day, will suddenly be a reality. The difference in what is paid and what is charged will be used to defray the cost of operating the Time Bank, as well as being fed back into the Federal budget, to begin paying down the national debt.

This progressive idea is not without opposition, though. Almost predictably, Tea Party partisans are already organizing rallies against the plan. Bumper stickers are beginning to appear, saying things like "24/7 or Fight!" and "You can have my hours when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers!"

So far, the church has been largely mute on the issue. Since a thousand years is like a day in God's presence, the whole issue of people having extra time is viewed by most denominations as a blessing for those who can use it. It's no big deal. Some people, however, like the members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, are already railing against the whole idea, waving signs and placards at all sorts of public gatherings that read "God Hates TAG Heuers!" This is to be expected...

Let's communicate with our legislators in Washington that now is the time to make the Federal Time Bank a reality.