Move up Inauguration Day for third time

 Move up Inauguration Day for third time

The presidential inauguration has been moved up twice. George Washington took the first presidential oath April 30, 1789. All subsequent inaugurations were moved up to March 4 to honor the date government operations began under the Constitution.

That worked well till the Depression era election of 1932. The four month interregnum nearly collapsed the country as outgoing Herbert Hoover and incoming FDR were diametrically opposed on relief needed. Hoover wanted to ride out the Depression as ‘survival of the fittest’, ignoring the 10,000 bank failures (42% of all banks) that had America careening toward collapse. FDR’s proposed governmental stimulus and relief horrified Hoover who dismissed FDR as mentally and physically unfit for office. Hoover railed against his proposed New Deal reforms as ‘socialism, fascism and a March to Moscow’.

Out of office, a profoundly bitter Hoover worked tirelessly for three decades to undue the New Deal, tarnishing his humanitarian and governmental service that vaulted him to the presidency.

Recognizing the disastrous four month stalemate, Congress and the states passed the 20th Amendment in FDR’s first year, moving up the presidential oath a second time to January 20, shortening the presidential transition by six weeks.

That worked well for 21 elections till this year. Once again, government is paralyzed in the face of economic crisis. But unlike 1932-33, this crisis is exacerbated by pandemic and a treasonous attempt to overturn the election. The specter of violence by the losing side haunts the upcoming Congressional election certification; even the inauguration itself.

Congress should propose a 28th Amendment early next month to shorten the current presidential transition of 10 weeks to a single month. The existential crisis we face has yet to play out. The result is potentially catastrophic. Reducing Inauguration Day a third time may be the charm needed to avoid a repeat of the worst presidential transition in U.S. history.

No doubt the loser in 2016 will spend the rest of his life trying to undue the moderate progressives who usurped him. But unlike Hoover, at 74, he won’t carry that on for 3 decades.