The United States, probably the country with the world's most advanced technology, is in danger of electing Donald Trump because of how fast a horse could pull a cart 171 years ago. Yes, a horse's arse is giving Trump a real chance of becoming president – and thus threatening the global economy.
First, the idea of Trump winning the Republican nomination was unthinkable.
Now, various polls are suggesting the November election will be a close run thing between Trump and Hillary Clinton.
Given close polls, the result would come down to which side is most successful in getting supporters to actually vote.
And that can be a difficult thing in a country where voting is optional and the election is held on a busy working day.
Getting the vote out
At what subsequently proved to be the particularly important presidential election in 2000, just 54.2 per cent of eligible voters bothered to make a choice between George W. Bush and Al Gore. Four years ago, only 57.5 per cent turned out for either Obama or Romney.
The frightening prospect of President Trump gets a big lift from low overall voter turnout.
A feature of Trump's Republican nomination win was his success in getting out the naive, the ignorant and the simply stupid to vote for him.
His misogyny, racism, sectarianism and bullying economic lunacy might appeal to only a minority of Americans, but those who buy the bile and bluster, the scapegoating and lies, are enthusiastic about it.
The same can't be said for many of Clinton's nominal supporters, let alone those who will be disappointed by Bernie Sanders failing to win the Democratic nomination.
While there are many who don't want Trump to become their president, there reportedly is a lack of great enthusiasm for the alternative.
And that makes voter turnout on Tuesday, November 8, crucial. The enthusiastic will make the effort. Those less committed, maybe. Those who don't like either candidate, well, there are kids to get to school and work to be done. Voting in the US isn't as easy as it is in Australia.
Horse-drawn democracy
So why does the United States make it hard to vote, why a Tuesday instead of on the weekend like most of the world?
It's because of the speed of a horse back in 1845 when the date – the Tuesday after the first Monday of November – was made law. The US then was a religious, rural society. It could take a day for farmers to travel by horse-drawn vehicle to the county seat to vote and it wouldn't do to travel on the sabbath.
So Tuesday it became, which also fitted in with the normal Wednesday market day.
The world was a primitive place in 1845, by our standards.
Antiseptic and chloroform weren't yet used in hospitals.
It was only the year before that the first electromagnetic morse code telegram had been sent.
Florida, the state of the crucial hanging chad election recount in 2000, became the 27th state to join the union.
The civil war was 16 years from starting, meaning perhaps a third of the south's population were slaves.
It would be another 75 years before the 19th Amendment gave American women the vote.
The first official game of baseball was yet to be played, but it's the technology of 1845 that's enhancing Donald Trump's chances of being president.
