Star Wars raised many questions.
Some it never answered.
Like, what the hell's a sleigh boy
doing building a protocol droid or
why do they keep adding
blades to light sabers?
>> Hm.
Could be.
>> Well one question that it did
answer is how does a democracy
become a dictatorship?
Star Wars tells the story
of how a peaceful and
prosperous republic
becomes an evil empire.
A political transformation with a well
known example here in our galaxy.
No R2, Germany and
a selection of the Nazi party.
As we'll see, both transformations
were primarily driven by fear.
Let's take a look.
Germany was mired in depression
in the 1920's and 30's.
Deflation and monetary failure became so
severe many Germans couldn't help but
feel upset and disappointed.
Star Wars Episode 1 also
begins with a crisis,
an invasion of the peaceful
planet of Naboo.
Both Hitler in Germany and Palpatine
in Star Wars exploited the partisan and
bureaucratic divisions handcuffing
their respective legislatures to become
chancellors.
Shockingly, these moves were
supported by popular will.
Once in office, both Hitler and Palpatine
used fear to acquire dictatorial powers.
Hitler used the fear generated by the
Reichstag fire to obtain emergency powers
suspending democratic rights.
Palpatine capitalized on the fear
generated by the separatist movement
to convince the senate to grant him
dictatorial powers on an emergency basis.
Which he promptly used
to build a grand army.
Neither Germans nor members of the Star
Wars republic wanted to live under
a dictatorship but fear was leading
them to this inevitable fate.
Both Hitler and Palpatine would then
use fear to consolidate their power.
Hitler used the threat of force and
his willingness to punish his opponents
to convince the German Senate to pass
an enabling act granting him dictatorial
powers on a permanent basis,
while Palpatine used the menace of ongoing
security threats, like the purported
plot by Jedi to overthrow government,
to declare himself Emperor of
the first Galactic Empire.
He even used the disfigurement of
his face to achieve his goals.
>> It's exactly like that.
Senator Amudala said it best.
>> So this is how liberty dies?
With thunderous applause.
>> Finally,
each use fear to maintain their power.
Palpatine used his grand army
to exterminate his most concrete
threat, the Jedi.
>> Execute all the 66.
>> Hitler used his military apparatus like
the Dreaded SS to persecute anyone who
challenged him politically and to enact
the genocide of Jewish citizens and
other minorities who threatened
his vision of a pure Germany.
That doesn't sound like the kind of
place you'd want to live right R2?
>> Germany isn't the only
example of this pattern.
Rome followed the same path from republic
to empire, as did Napoleonic France.
Being mindful of this pattern is
especially important today as nations
often consider suspending and
even outright revoking constitutional
threats in response to security threats.
Yoda wasn't just right when he prophesized
that fear was the path to the dark side.
>> Fear leads to anger.
Anger leads to hate.
Hate leads to suffering.
>> Fear is also the path from
democracy to dictatorship.
For Learn Liberty, I'm REMY.
C'mon R2.
>> I promise R2 will make
you look better in editing.
Yes, yes,
just like they did with Hahn and Gritto.
