During this presidential election year, as the candidates joust with rhetorical and emotional appeals, we should remember that one of America’s greatest political achievements is its tradition of peaceful electoral transfers of power throughout our federal system. Many political theorists consider transfers of power, even within families, to be the most difficult political problem. Yet for more than two centuries, presidents, governors, mayors, school board members, and many other elected offices have upheld a legacy of respecting an election’s outcome with a peaceful abdication of power by the losing candidates. Read more
