Last week, the president of Congo was assassinated after unrest with the Congolese army over unpaid wages. On Saturday, the president of the Philippines quit amidst allegations of skimming money from tax dollars.And over the weekend, President George W. Bush took office while angry protesters were held back by volunteer Girl Scouts.Successful transition of power is one of the most important elements of democracy. After eight years of Democratic rule, we’re relinquishing our government to the opposition party — the Republicans — and only a radical few aren’t willing to call the party leader our commander in chief.Not everybody is happy about the result of this heavily contested election. And yet we can feel free to speak out against the government without fear of punishment.This is one of democracy’s greatest achievements and one of its most common elements.The first time America switched from a Democratic to a Republican president, in 1861, we had a Civil War. This time around, the transition of power led to the arrests of six protesters.In any number of nations, the ruling party would have insisted a silly thing like a constitution doesn’t matter and the popular vote winner should be installed immediately. In any of a number of nations, the ruler would have insisted a silly thing like a term limit was unimportant since his popularity ratings were so high.But in America, we enact our transitions of power the right way — with Wayne Newton, Ricky Martin and bolo ties.

editorialboard: Carrie Tett, Greg Jerrett, Katie Goldsmith, Amie Van Overmeer, Andrea Hauser and Jocelyn Marcus