I've just started rewatching the Star Wars trilogy. I can't say that I was ever much of a fan--I could never get past the dreadful acting, stilted dialogue, and the cheesy costumes. And I have always been surprised when people I respect praised it. Joseph Campbell was a fan, and I respect a guy like cultural historian/philosopher John Ebert--and he loves Star Wars:
George Lucas's Star Wars epic is the closest thing that we possess to a modern equivalent of the Ring cycle.for just as Wagner created for the Germans a national mythology of the Industrial Age, Lucas has given us a modern celluloid epic for the Electronic Society, in which the industrial nation state is giving way to an emerging planetary culture. The Romantic movement of the nineteenth century was a reaction to the industrial system, and the various nationalist movements with their retrieval of ancient myth were, at least partially, an attempt to combat the encroachments of the machine world which was already beginning the process of eroding culture, authenticity, and individuality wherever it went. Thus, the very mechanical Umwelt that was born out of the European nation state arose only to destroy its local, geographically based boundaries with an electronic latticework of metantational corporations. . . .
It seems fitting, then, that the plot of George Lucas's Star Wars prequels is modeled on the decline of the Roman Republic and its transition to the Empire under the Caesars, for that is exactly what is happening to our democracy right now. In fact, if you pay close enough attention to Lucas's films, you will learn everything you need to know about what is going on in our society, for despite their opening disclaimer, the Star Wars films are not about another world in outer space a long time ago, but about what is happening on the planet right now. For Lucas is not only a modern Wagner, but a sort of Virgil as well, forging for the Empire--although in this case he is decidedly against it--a national American epic in the time of Caesar. (Celluloid Heroes & Mechanical Dragons - Film as the Mythology of Electronic Society, pp. 155-57)
We live in a corporatist state, and as with all historical autocracies, it matters whether the person or faction in control is a crazy militarist or an "enlightened" moderate. In other words it makes a difference that Obama and not McCain or Cheney be running the government. But we shouldn't fool ourselves anymore that the people have any real influence in shaping policy except to exert pressure by taking to the streets.
And it's probably too late for even that to be effective, since the implementation of the Patriot Act, the abrogation of habeas corpus in the Military Commissions Act, and the new warrantless wiretap FISA rules, the State has enormous power to identify "troublemakers", jail them, and throw away the key. In other words, while we are not there quite yet, the stage is set for a Palpatine type to emerge and push the American republic across the line to become the "Empire". And we should not delude ourselves that Dems are somehow stronger defenders of traditional civil liberties than Republicans. Obama and Eric Holder have proved time and again they're just fine with how Bush/Cheney trashed those safeguards.
But does the typical liberal really care. Let's imagine a Palpatine type with the support of key establishment figures coming on the scene in a kind of peaceful coup, and what if he was not be an obvious a villain, but rather a well-educated cosmopolitan--eloquent in his defense of women's rights and their right to choose, for Gay marriage, a lover of Mozart, jazz, an avid reader of Oprah's books of the month, and a great fan of Prairie Home Companion. In other words that he be someone blue-staters will all feel comfortable with except that he destroyed what was left of an already dysfunctional republic--he convincingly explained why it was an unfortunate necessity in an earnest interview with NPR's Michelle Norris. It had to be done--the security and future position of the United States in the World demanded it.
But here's the question: would most blue-staters really mind?
Probably not because their side apparently won in the culture war, which is what they care most about. And they'd support the government's efforts to squash out the militias and the Teaparty protesters. But the militias and the teapartiers would see themselves as part of the rebel alliance--isn't that how they see themselves now with Sarah Palin as their Princess Leia? Isn't that really the underlying point about Jonah Goldberg's book about liberal fascists? I think Goldberg is off the wall, but he's right to this extent--liberals are no great opponents of autocracy. They'd fall right in line if the propaganda resonated with their cultural biases.
The American left thinks the Republicans are the autocrats, and the Right thinks that Obama and the Dems are. What hardly anyone is saying is that both parties serve the spirit of the "Empire". And the Empire and its corporation serving machine is the enemy no matter how cosmopolitan the values of the people running it.