Realizing that I’m opening the door to a potentially fierce debate (and to questions about my sanity), I still feel compelled to take issue with an item noted this afternoon on “The Corner,” National Review Online‘s blog.
In a discussion about the political leanings of Darth Vader, NR senior political writer John J. Miller asserts, “Jonathan Last proved conclusively that the Empire was good, even though Darth dressed in black.” Miller links us to this 2002 article from the Weekly Standard.
Entertaining theories? Yes. Compelling? No.
Mr. Last implies that the Empire developed during the course of the early Star Wars flicks was justified by its insistence on a peaceful, ordered galactic society.
Let’s apply that theory to real life. Saddam Hussein had the right to gas Kurds and terrorize others within Iraq; that brutality helped maintain peace and order within that country. In the name of order, ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia made sense.
Since millions of his countrymen rejected his brutal form of Communist tyranny, Stalin was justified in maintaining order in the young Soviet Union by annihilating anyone who stood in his way. Heck, even George III would have been well within his authority to slaughter the ungrateful subjects who dared to challenge his authority in the 1770s.
Last bases his support for the mythical Galactic Empire on the theory that the pre-Empire Republic was broken. The Jar Jar Binks election/appointment to the Senate notwithstanding, I disagree. Was the Republic inefficent? Yes. Infuriating? Yes. Guess what? That’s how many of us feel about the U.S. Senate. Still, we wouldn’t want to scrap that institution in favor of a monarchy or Banana Republic-style dictatorship.
It seems pretty clear from the heavy-handed scripting that Lucas was setting the stage for a Palpatine power grab from his first appearance in Episode One. Palpatine had no interest in an effective Republic. He purposefully sabotaged the existing institutions to enhance his position. He played on people’s fears and frustrations to turn his elected role into an all-powerful dictatorship.
With a chancellor committed to protecting the Republic, perhaps the Republican Senate would have appeared in a more favorable light. Of course, that option would never have resulted in a half-dozen blockbuster films. The story would have been about as interesting as watching the U.S. Senate in action.
