Bad habits like fiddling with our clocks twice a year are hard to break, even when they serve no good purpose, even if destructive.

Now there is hope we will be spared the burden of turning our clocks back from daylight saving time.

But when will Congress get a clue and get it done?

Most folks will tell you DST was created for the benefit of farmers when America was largely agricultural. Most folks would be wrong. Farmers don’t give a hoot about DST and in fact strongly opposed it when the time switch was first made in 1918 as a wartime measure.

After the war ended, DST proved so unpopular the federal law was repealed in 1919, though some states and localities continued the observance.

When World War II arrived, so did year-round DST. But from 1945 to 1966, observance was inconsistent, resulting in all manner of confusion for the transportation and broadcasting industries in particular, which pushed for standardization. Farmers, by the way, remained opposed. To fix things, the Uniform Time Act was established in 1966.

After 55 years of this misery, it’s time to repeal it, move time forward an hour, and be done with it. There simply is no good reason to continue changing our clocks twice annually.

The U.S. Department of Energy is promulgating the notion that DST saves about a half a percent in total electricity per day. However, according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, the closer you live to the equator where the amount of daylight varies little, the amount of electricity actually increases after the clocks are switched. A Yale economics study found a 1% increase in electricity use in Indiana from DST costs residents $9 million annually.

“Further studies in 2008 showed that Americans used more domestic electricity when they practice daylight saving. Today, as modern society marches forward, the energy argument may become obsolete. In terms of work, we’re not really a strictly 9-to-5 society any more. Factories have different shifts. Office workers use the internet. Farmers will use daylight hours, no matter what. At home, our electricity demand is no longer based on sunrises and sunsets. We drive instead of walking, which means daylight saving actually increases gasoline use,” the OFA said.

Indeed, other studies show a negative impact on health, more car crashes and increased workplace injuries as folks get accustomed to time switches.

Two years ago, California and Florida voted to move clocks ahead an hour and leave them there. Last year, six more states signed on including Tennessee. So far this year there have been six more. More than half the states now demand an end to clock tampering.

Arizona, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa and the U.S. Virgin Islands don’t change their clocks.

It’s time for the rest of America to make the change.