And another thing: Our coronations

The long delay between election and inauguration leaves room for all kinds of mischief (appointments, executive orders, proclamations -- imagine the trouble a lame-duck Donald Trump will stir up in the two and half months he will have to stew over his ouster).

The new president should be installed as soon as the election is certified and with as little pomp and circumstance as possible. We are trying to run a democracy, not a serial monarchy. The reason for the long delay is historical, not practical, and it distorts -- aggrandizes -- the office of president to have it pimped out in imperial array.