Last week, the Daily Beast wrote an article suggesting that conservatives align with the “Star Wars” films’ evil Galactic Empire instead of the Rebel Alliance. Those half-witted nerf-herders have no idea what they are talking about.
The article, titled “Why Conservatives Love the Galactic Empire,” assembled various tweets from prominent conservative journalists to construct their argument that conservatives and the Dark Side are closer than Han and Chewie.
It’s a shame the Daily Beast was too lazy to do their homework. They didn’t even have to pick up a book. They need only watch “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” to recognize that conservatives could not possibly align with the Galactic Empire. After all, the Empire was born out of liberal power-moves.
“Revenge of the Sith” bridges the gap between the first and second trilogies of the “Star Wars” franchise. Episode III shows the birth of the Galactic Empire and Anakin Skywalker’s shift toward the Dark Side.
This transformation begins when Chancellor Palpatine befriends an uncorrupted Anakin, and appoints him — illegally — to the Jedi council as his personal representative. Although it is mandated that only Jedi Masters may sit at the council and that they must be elected, Chancellor Palpatine defies traditional law to have oversight of the Jedi’s policies.
Conservatives wouldn’t have broken the separation of powers to bypass the democratic process held by the Jedi council, but — as shown in recent years of the Obama administration — executive mandates bypass the constitution regularly.
In addition to Palpatine’s special appointments and executive mandates, he also evokes FDR by staying in power far past his term. Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi famously reminds Anakin Skywalker of this.
“Be careful of your friend Palpatine,” Obi-Wan says, “who has managed to stay in office long after his term has expired.”
Palpatine issues himself “emergency powers” to stay in office longer and to bypass the Galactic Senate’s authority under the guise of securing the Republic in time of war, clearly mirroring Roosevelt’s World War II presidency.
Even as war nears an end, Palpatine does not return emergency powers to the Senate, but rather reorganizes the Republic into a tyrannical empire. As the senate ignorantly cheers the decision, Senator of Naboo and Anakin’s wife Padmé Amidala proclaims how the rights of the people have been taken away.
“So this is how liberty dies,” Amidala says, “with thunderous applause.”
The Galactic Empire would not have been formed without the disregard of the branches of government and the use of executive mandates, moves that are fundamentally against conservative principles.
The Jedi are advocates of the republic in Episode III and defend it courageously throughout the galaxy. In the final showdown between Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan explains the madness behind a Galactic Empire and states his commitment to the old order.
“Anakin, my allegiance is to the Republic,” Obi-Wan says. “To democracy.”
Episode III concludes with the abolishment of free government and the Jedi Republic, leaving the original trilogy to be perhaps the most grand allegory for the American Revolution ever.
The original trilogy tells the tale of a small group of rebels who band together against a tyrannical form of government to secure peace for the galaxy. The plot line embodies the founding and the fight for independence very well.
The Rebels wear disguises to sneak into imperial bases — reminiscent of Washington’s crossing the Delaware. The Rebels seek allies from various cultures near the end of the war to combat the Galactic Empire, while our own revolutionaries received the assistance of the French at the Battle of Yorktown. It is a science fiction nerd’s and Tea Party conservative’s dream come true.
Star Wars may have been set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, but the connection of bad liberal policy to the Galactic Empire is just far too relevant in America today.
