Experts always know everything but the fine points. When I took my citizenship exams, no one there knew how the White House came to be called the White House.
Because of the increase in life longevity, America can now assume that at any given time three, and perhaps four, former presidents will still be alive, even when the current president is occupying the White House.
States are like people. They do not question the awful status quo until some dramatic event overturns the conventional and lax way of thinking.