3 ms·
> It's insane that the political system gives the losing side ~2 months ... In nearly every democracy, power turns over very next day, or at worst, within the w
by pwg 6y ago
> It's insane that the political system gives the losing side ~2 months ... In nearly every democracy, power turns over very next day, or at worst, within the week
You have to keep in mind the genesis of that two months time-frame.
This was written into the constitution circa the 1790 timeframe (rough estimate, I'm not trying to nail down an exact date). That is 230 years ago (+- some error factor).
The fastest method of communication available 230 years ago was a rider and multiple, fast, horses arranged in a sort of "relay race" configuration to transport that rider, and their communications data, from one part of the country to another.
There was simply no means available, 230 years ago, to "turn over power" within a day or a week, because it could easily have taken far more than a week just to transport the results of distant states votes to the central point of counting (originally this would have been Philadelphia, then it became Washington DC when the federal govt. moved into DC).
The "2 months" is an artifact of a different time, with significantly slower means of communication than we enjoy today, 230 years or so later. Unfortunately, the "2 months" time has also not been updated as the years passed, and communications speed improved considerably from the horse and rider days of yesteryear.
- Animats 6y agoIt's been updated. The inauguration was in March until 1937.