“What if the democracy we thought we were serving no longer exists, and the Republic has become the very evil we have been fighting to destroy?”—Padmé, in Revenge of the Sith
Lest anyone remain skeptical that life imitates art, the past week’s events should dispel all doubts. In the space of just a few days our very own Emperor Palpatine unleashed his storm troopers with deadly effect, both at home and abroad, killing more than 80 in an unprovoked attack on Venezuela while also shooting a 37-year-old Minneapolis woman in the head. Two more people—Venezuelans, as chance would have it—were likewise shot in their car, in Portland, Oregon, albeit with less fatal consequences.
Palpatine, a/k/a Darth Sidious, was beside himself with glee at the mayhem he had unleashed, marveling at how much the aerial assault on Caracas and its swarthy inhabitants, which he watched live on multiple TV screens, looked just like a real movie. The summary execution of a very non-swarthy woman as she sat behind the steering wheel of a Honda Pilot was a little more difficult to spin as some kind of triumph, so Darth Sidious instead fell back on the time-honored ploy of blaming the victim. Renee Nicole Good had “weaponized” her car, he claimed, supposedly propelling it— at walking speed—toward a Storm Trooper whose automatic response was to put a bullet in her face before stepping aside.
Neither of these incidents were one-offs, nor was the official response merely the exuberance of a single unhinged mind. This is in fact the new normal for a government that views itself as entitled to take whatever it wants and to trample anyone who stands in its way. As our emperor’s in-house thug, Stephen Miller, explained to a bewildered Jake Tapper on CNN: “We live in a world, in the real world . . . that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.” Cue Darth Vader’s “Imperial March.”
Renee Good was shot just 24 hours after the fifth anniversary of another woman getting shot to death by a law enforcement officer. That would be Ashli Babbitt, of course, who was among the hundreds of rioters who invaded and ransacked the U.S. Capitol in an ultimately futile effort to overthrow the 2020 presidential election results. Babbitt was shot as she attempted to climb through the shattered window of a barricaded door well inside the building, and has since been elevated to martyrdom by a mob that Darth Sidious insists was just a peaceful, loving assemblage. Indeed, widely disseminated video coverage notwithstanding, a lawsuit filed by Babbitt’s family claims she was “ambushed,” as though she had been taken out by a sniper while walking down a city street.
The parallels between the shooting deaths of both women are many, even as the actual circumstances were markedly different: Renee Good was alone in her car, surrounded by several ICE agents, whereas Ashli Babbitt was part of a surging mob that quite literally was attacking an overwhelmed police contingent. But that only underscores the hypocrisy of the Empire’s response, with Darth Sidious-wannabe JD Vance contending that while Good’s death was “tragic, sure,” it was “also a consequence of her choices. Don’t interfere with federal operations and don’t try to run over officers.” In one instance, a heroine cut down as she battled for democracy; in the other, a domestic terrorist who had only herself to blame for her violent death.
Violence and the threat of violence are of course the animating force behind imperial expansion, creating both uncertainty and fear in the subjugated population, whether foreign or domestic. It also knows no restraints. Our very own Emperor Palpatine, asked on Wednesday if there are any limits on his power, replied, “Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.” This from a man who is a convicted tax cheat, sexual predator and serial liar, a man who is the very embodiment of unbridled id.
Most people find that repellant, but there are those who are enthralled by such unleashed depravity and give it sustenance. Just look at the craven Lindsey Graham, for example. But the craven ones also get a huge boost from the ineffectual ditherers in Congress, the courts and our corporate executive suites who don’t recognize, or won’t accept, that we’ve been thrust into the throes of a foundational battle. This isn’t about political differences or policy disputes. It’s not a matter of right vs. left, populist vs. elitist, conservative vs. liberal. It’s all about power: who has it, and who submits to it. Just like Miller said.
Violence is an effective tool, insofar as it creates fear that mutes opposition, but it also is an addictive drug whose doses must be increased over time to generate the desired effect. And fear, as Yoda observed, “is the path to the dark side,” a downward spiral into an ever deeper void. Just when you think things can’t get worse, a fresh new horror will be perpetrated. The Emperor will not be denied his every impulse or libidinal craving.
Bleak? Yes. But as Yoda also counseled, “In a dark place we find ourselves, and a little more knowledge lights the way.” The knowledge, in this instance, has to be the understanding that we are being ruled not by an extremist or an ideologue, but by a vile and completely self-absorbed reptilian brain. Once that realization sinks in more broadly, the Resistance can be fully activated.
“Plant hope now; harvest courage later.”—Luke Skywalker
Looking askance 