Why American Elections Are Held on Tuesdays

It is said that American elections are held on Tuesdays because it took most voters a day to travel to a polling place in pioneer days. Sunday is the Sabbath, and allowing a day for travel resulted in Tuesday becoming Election Day. The power of tradition is amazing, considering that this practice continues even today.

A previous column touched on the origin of the word “Tuesday,” which comes from Tyr, the Norse god of war. He is also the god of justice and the Ecclesia, the tribal assembly of democracy. Germanic tribes also made Tuesday their democratic assembly day, another tradition that America inherited.

This week was Super Tuesday, the peak of the Republican nomination race for the presidential election to be held on Tuesday, November 6. The candidate smiling at the end of Super Tuesday was Mitt Romney, who is now the frontrunner for the nomination. Romney solidified his lead by winning in six states, including closely watched Ohio, which is said to be a microcosm of the American populace as a whole.

However, other candidates have still shown no signs of pulling out of the race. That includes Rick Santorum, who won in three Super Tuesday states. In the wake of the policy debates, the smear campaigns have heated up to the point that former First Lady Barbara Bush recently called this Republican race “the worst campaign I’ve ever seen in my life.” The struggle continues between those who have been bewitched by the god of war.

Fierce battles such as these always draw attention. Not even President Barack Obama, who should want to put out the fire, is keeping quiet. He was so bold as to hold a press conference on Super Tuesday, during which he took aim at the Republican candidates who have repeatedly criticized him as being soft on Iran, blasting them for being irresponsible warmongers. Here too, Tyr is alive and well.

This fruitless back-and-forth of condemnations is unpleasant and tough on the voters, who still have to hear it for a few more months. Even for the sake of the god of justice and democratic assembly, a fair policy debate still may not be possible.