Rise To Power

The way Palpatine had rose to power and how he declared himself emperor can so easily happen in real life. Not only in the future, but even today.

With the whole Iraq war and the war on terrorism that looks like it will last forever, can allow a president to gain absolute control. If things get so bad, congress will lose some power, which will allow a president to gain full control, in order to 'secure stability and continuing security'. Its pretty obvious that the democrats will never get into power, and people will most likely vote republican.

Its possible because there can be conspiracies to let war prolong as long as it can for one to gain absolute control just like Palpatine....

Is this the right section... not sure.

But the big difference between Palpatine's Empire, and a U.S. Presidents "Empire," is that Palpatine had the utter loyalty of his clones. The American military are natural humans, capable of free, comprehensive, and enterprising thought and opinion. Not to mention most of the Republic was on Palpatine's side, whereas there's a rather large split in opinion towards the President's handling of the Iraq War and foreign policy.

You really want this to spin into flaming don't you.....

Impossible for it to happen in the US, and that's literal, the rules of this Country can't be broken, the Agencies/Military could very well remove any person that tried that.

And Bush won't do that despite what your Media/Presidential Runnerups told you :/

/threadclose

Tangible God's right. Besides, there's not just one body of the people who would object, but two: the Congress and the Senate. Also, the isn't the gulf of space that prevents the normal people from reaching the Supreme ruler, making rebellion even more difficult. The people themselves are not infatuated with Bush like they were with Palpatine; instead of seeing an intelligent, charming old man, they see an imcompetent nincom-poop

You confidence in your democracy is your weakness.... hehehehehe

i think it was pretty obvious, at least for me, that Palpatine's rise was intended to echo that of Hitler's.

Hitler rose to power first thru legitimate means, like Palpatine did - though by a good control of events that led him to be voted Supreme Chancellor. Htler then made shifting constitutional changes thru the Enabling Act that made him dictator. Palpatine too, pushed for constitutional changes thru the senators.

While hitler combined his Chancellor position and the Presidency to be known as the Fuhrer, which is rather similar to Palpatine's shift from chancellor to Emperor.

Originally posted by queeq
You confidence in your democracy is your weakness.... hehehehehe

Thats why both the US and the Galactic Republics are Republics.

Lucas said in the ROTS media interviews he was inspired by the politics of President Nixon's downfall. So Star Wars does have more of a Nixonian spin than Hitlerian taste. But true, Lucas borrowed from just about everywhere.

Yup..

Originally posted by Tangible God
Is this the right section...

In a word...NO

Palpatine's rise to power is almost an exact mirror of Hitlers rise to power in Germany.

Here, put it this way, if people are so afraid, due to terrorism, nuclear war, or even dictators in other countries, they will stop at nothing to protect their own safety. If things were to come to a point, where the lives of their families are in danger, and things can no longer be settled democratically, and extreme action is needed, then all power will go to one decision maker. Therefore the people will support this 'Emperor' to take action in order for their survival.

Hitlers rise to power was different, because his propaganda and strong rhetoric, was based on the hatred of Jews, who were the ones trying to make people all equal, and were accused of trying to take over. Hitler gained support by the people this way. It does have alot of similarities, but Palpatine was only fighting against a rebellion, while hitler was destroying races and those who didn't seem equal to him. Also, hitler never became ruler of the world to even have a rebellion.

Hitler needed someone to blame. The Jews were often at the top of German society...if your a poor worker buying a loaf of breat with a wheelbarrow full of cash...who are you going to blame?

...maybe the upper classes?

Hitler's play was brilliant.

And no, Hitler's rise to power does not have a lot of similarities with Star Wars.

I can think of a few similarities:
-Hitlers SS were used to crush opposition, Palpatine had his appentices.
-Hilter had Joeseph Goebbels to run his propaganda sceme, Palpatine used his senators.
-Hilter fooled (brainwashed) the people, Palpatine fooled even the jedi
-They both wanted war

Is that so much a specific parallel? Or just a practice of Totalitarian states?

Originally posted by JediRobin23
I can think of a few similarities:
-Hitlers SS were used to crush opposition, Palpatine had his appentices.
-Hilter had Joeseph Goebbels to run his propaganda sceme, Palpatine used his senators.
-Hilter fooled (brainwashed) the people, Palpatine fooled even the jedi
-They both wanted war

And as to you're second-last post:

That's quite a supposition, it's possible, but improbable. If there's one leader in a time of crisis, a strong, smart and efficient leader, the people will rally around him. It doesn't have to be just America for that to happen. It can be seen throughout history, even back to early tribal days.

The difference with America nowadays is that it's very diverse. 300 million people aren't all gonna agree, a President hoping to become an "Emperor" will have to go through the lengthy process of eliminating the democratic way of life America's known for most of its 230 year history, not to mention twisting the entire media around his finger (a difficult feat in today's world) and erasing the country's memories towards fascism, totalitarism and dictatorships, all of which are unpleasant memories at best. Top the irritating obstacle known as the U.N. on that, what with it's sanctions and embargos etc., you're for a rough rise to power.

Originally posted by Tangible God
Actually the SS resembles the Stormtroopers, since the SS were called... stormtroopers. And Goebbels more closely resembles Sate Pestage of all, at least in the beginning, the Imperial "Propaganda Network" after that.

I like that, the galactic 'propaganda network'. Man, that would be interesting to see. Eg. On tatooine, how many times did you have a jawa f*ck you over? well the imperials........

anyway, Even if they know their leader is a complete retard, people may still support him because they think that he may make the much needed decision if times come to that point.
Hitler did feed the hungry after the great depression, so people supported him. Off course times arent like that now, but what if we were at the knowingly verge of a nuclear war? what decisions would you make?

On the verge of complete disintegration...?

Well of course I would support any means necessary to ensure the continuing security and stability. But in the wake of a nuclear war, I can't imagine any worse horror that an Emperor can impose.

Originally posted by JediRobin23
The way Palpatine had rose to power and how he declared himself emperor can so easily happen in real life. Not only in the future, but even today.

With the whole Iraq war and the war on terrorism that looks like it will last forever, can allow a president to gain absolute control. If things get so bad, congress will lose some power, which will allow a president to gain full control, in order to 'secure stability and continuing security'. Its pretty obvious that the democrats will never get into power, and people will most likely vote republican.

Its possible because there can be conspiracies to let war prolong as long as it can for one to gain absolute control just like Palpatine....

palps takeover is pretty much by the book. george lucas read a copy of "dictatorships for dummies" and followed it. and bush? he can strip as many of our civil liberties and bomb as many non-whites as he wishes, but he will never shoot lightning from his fingers, so **** his wannabe punk ass.

Originally posted by Tangible God
On the verge of complete disintegration...?

Well of course I would support any means necessary to ensure the continuing security and stability. But in the wake of a nuclear war, I can't imagine any worse horror that an Emperor can impose.

The emperor would be the one to stop or prevent it, not be the instigator.