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I said its not completely arbitrary. I think that they chose a bright-line approach (i.e. 20 yrs as opposed to a more calculated term for every kind of invention or whatever) because of the ease of administrability.

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Is 19 years objectively too short? Is 21 years objectively too long?

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no, but 15 might be, 25 might be too long. also consider that sometimes you wont get a patent right for 2 years after filings, and that might be a quick turn around. So the filing period itself is arbitrary. the patent system isnt perfect, but it tries under the circumstances.

are you seriously going to quibble over a few years? and even if you say its "arbitrary," is it unreasonably arbitrary? probably not.

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My point was that there is no objective way to tell how long is too long and how short is too short. It is completely arbitrary, regardless of how feel about it.