Is it overkill for Linus's kids? Yes. But OpenSUSE wasn't put together for his kids.
> I first spent weeks arguing on a bugzilla that the security policy of requiring the root password for changing the timezone
The time zone is a completely presentational setting, something that users can be expected to want to change every so often. And it has no relation to timestamps.
Since a server application most likely isn't running as a the same user as the "real" logged-in user, there's no reason anything bad would happen.
And a distro must not assume you're using it for server applications, when you install a personal installation on your laptop.
On a laptop? A seriously doubt it. Make the bloody distro learn to differentiate between a server and a personal installation, and change the settings accordingly.