Palpatine and Politics: A Simile

Conservatism leads to Darth Sidious, Liberalism leads to Emperor Palpatine.

One of the quickest and surest ways to grab a geeks attention is to drop a Star Wars reference, for example, if I were to say, "Skimpier then a bronze slave outfit." An image of a young Carrie Fischer would pop into many minds, or if someone is budging in line at the DMV, they may get told "Hold on Greedo, I get to go first." The person would be obligated to get to the back of the line, less they try and argue the Special Edition movies are in some way superior in their telling of the Sci-Fi masterpieces.

But why is it that both political sides constantly try and use the image of Emperor Palpatine (a.k.a. Darth Sidious) to define their opposition. Either as a incredibly old, rich, corrupt, bitter, elitist, who is intent on forcing his views on everyone else Republican. Or a manipulative, scheming, lying, brooding, elitist, who is intent on forcing his views on everyone else Democrat. The common thread being the attempt at painting ones political opposition with a power crazed villain who's best friend suffers from a terrible case of asthma and is obsessed with obtaining a pair of giant death balls. I wish to contest that the visage of the Emperor actually has two parts, two sides of the same coin if you will, derived from the two sides of the Star Wars prequel conflict.

Let's go ahead and start breaking apart the analogy. Dismissing the obvious evil, power hungry, old white guy, because let's face it, that describes about 99% of politicians in either camp. Instead, we will compare the means, methodology, and ultimate goals of power attainment. Contrasting Republicans and Democrats with Emperor Palpatine, the duly elected Emperor of the Old Republic, and Darth Sidious, the invisible hand guiding the Seperatist army.

Before we begin, a nod to the concept of the Palpatine Character, a villain who, in the end, controlled both sides of a Civil War. Regardless of who won the war, Palpatine did. And in the end all major factions in the universe would be too exhausted to challenge his ultimate claim. Good thing that there is no supreme powers behind both political parties, simply making them play out their roles while this force wins out regardless of who wins any given political bout. Right? That would be terrible! Could you imagine?

In the Star Wars universe, we had a Darth Sidious before we had an Emperor Palpatine, so we will begin there. To my point, Darth Sidious used his power and manipulation to horde economic and manufacturing resources via the Trade Federation and other galaxy guilds. There were no votes for the masses to decide who was best suited to lead the movement, it was through private means and self determination that Sidious was able to provide the leadership through a series of independent deals, management, and eventual mass execution. He entreated and utilized planets like Geonosis for their manufacturing capability, but allowed them to remain self governed (though only a fool would abandon the cause and risk a Sith Lords wrath). He didn't discriminate or try to dictate or regulate the work conditions of those who worked for him, and gave little regard to the environmental impact of the worlds these factions worked on. The capacity to complete the work ordered was his driving cause, and allowed the 'self governed' aspects of these worlds to handle the impact of these arrangements on their people.

• Capitalism
• Deregulation
• Market Based Compensation
• 'States' Sovereignty

Then we have Palpatine, the soft spoken senator from Naboo who assended to Chancellor, then Emperor, thanks to the motion presented by one Senator Jar-Jar Binks. Palpatine mastered the rule of law as dictated by a strong central government to plot his route to ultimate power. Even in the face of his home planet being bullied into compliance, he believed the process of the Senate needed to be upheld, and saw too much risk in provoking the Trade Federation into a war. He pleaded with Princess Amidala to concede rule of Naboo until such a time that the central government would be mobilized to come and protect them. Stating that it wasn't safe for the Queen to take it upon herself to defend the people against the invading force. Also, once an all out war became unavoidable, then Chancellor Palpatine had zero qualms about utilizing an army that was cloned and raised specifically to be soldiers. A concept that in real life would make the 'moral' right sneer in disgust about playing God with genetics and cloning technologies.

• The Rule of Law
• Centralized Power
• Gun Control
• Science over Morality

Obviously both personas had a single goal, but starkly different methods of obtaining that goal, and in the end it was obvious only to an elite few that they where getting played all along and that the outcome would be the same until the politicians, I mean the Chancellor, was stopped and the power he had attained handed back over to the people. So the difference in the end isn't the end, it's the means by which to get there. Sidious used a more 'free markets' approach and found willing cohorts to establish his power, then through hard work and determination, and a little influence from the dark side of the force, created a structure in which he was at the top of an organization pyramid that obtained it's power through absorbing lesser powers into it. As he amassed this power under him, the top of the power structure changed very little, it simply was raised up as the base expanded (i.e. richer getting richer). Palpatine's rise came through an existing structure, in where he had to reach the top of that structure before he could enact changes that would expand the power base. Each step in power being accompanied by a rule or law that permitted the accession, never changing the rules, simply finding the opportune times in which to  (i.e. everything Hitler did was legal).  

Now apply these variables to the real world. If Bush and Obama had their shot at defending Naboo against the Trade Federation, which one do you see laying low and waiting for the Intergalactic Community to come and assist them, and who do you see building a coallition of the willing Gungans to fight the Droid Army threat. If these two Presidents had to build a Death Star, who would allow companies to hire Genosian immigrants at whatever wage they agreed to, and who would restrict the contracts to those that passed the Imperial background checks.

These are, in my mind, some of the core differences between the right and the left in today's political climate. The origination of the centralization of power. Though neither absolute is ideal, one uses the manipulation of people and the other the manipulation of law. Much like in the olden days of America when monopolies where not regulated, a larger company could put out a smaller company in a price war, where a larger company that can take a loss sets a price point so low that it forces the smaller company out of business, then jacks up the price, forcing people to accept it as competition has ceased. It is the same when too much power is amassed in one organization that is hindered by it's own complexity of laws, rules, and regulations. The word of law ceases to be simple and begins to benefit those that masters its convoluted language rather then those who are just in their cause.

Perhaps, though, in the end the real comparison is between the entirety of the Palpatine/Sidious character, and every politician ever. They all seem to be hiding something, they all think that they should be bowed to when they take a long distance call. They both seem to abandon their constituents when they're needed most. And, nobody ever admits to liking them, but they keep seeming to cower to them.

Perhaps all Palpatine had to do was continue to amass organizations like the Trade Federation, then just buy his influence in the Galactic Senate, he would be all powerful of a non-war torn galaxy, no one would know his name, and no blood would be shed.

Luckily, this is all just a work of fiction... Right?