I got to thinking about Palpatine after my wife and I watched the movie Sicko, by Michael Moore. If you've seen the movie, it's about the downfalls of the American health care system, and the horrors its wrought upon some families and individuals through beaurocratic red tape. And he compares the system to other countries and their health care systems, such as what we have here in Canada (yes, I'm Canadian), in Britain, in France, and even on American soil in Guantanamo Bay. It's a detailed look into what ails the current system and how other countries have developed their system over time.

And in one scene, he interviews a former British Member of Parliament, I believe, who gives his insight into what he thinks holds a population in check with some governments ... fear and demoralization. If the population is frightened and have lost their sense of what the right thing to do is, they will succumb to what the authourity tells them to do. In the case of U.S. citizens and their right to proper health care, they are at the mercy of government and large pharmeceutical corporations and insurance companies ... controlling the fear over what can be afforded, and at what cost to health.

And I think of Palpatine's Empire. He controlled the galaxy through fear, and through frightening people into bending to his will. Anyone who crossed him would suffer at either his hands or at Vader's. He was very much in control and would use fear as a tactic. Even Tarkin said that fear would keep systems in line ... fear of the battle station, but in reality, fear of the Empire and what could happen if one were to go against the grain and challenge that authority. And I think Palpatine even kept Vader in check through fear ... fear of abandonment, fear of lonlieness, fear of ending Vader's own life if he were to fail Palpatine (such as during Luke and Vader's fight on DSII ... encouraging Luke to strike down Vader). And Palpatine even got the Republic on his side in the PT through fear ... convincing the population to hand him political powers to see the situation through to the end. And in the end, he convinced them that the Jedi were the bad guys and that they were to be feared and needed to be finished ... another tactic of fear-mongering.

And of course Palpatine was a demoralizing factor in the galaxy. He made alien races a target and only viewed his Empire as the true authority in the galaxy. The planets and people he oppressed would eventually rise up in the form of rebellion to the demoralizing conditions he brought to the galaxy. They couldn't stand his authority for one minute longer and felt something had to be done ... to get rid of the source of the fear and demoralization that plagued them all. But in his mind, he thought all was under control ... that he was in charge due to his fear tactics and brutal hand. He couldn't see that underneath the fear and oppression beat a heart of bravery and passion. It was a glass house he lived in, and one which easily was shattered once the first rock was thrown ... the one Luke cast and which reverberated to all the galaxy. All the citizens of the galaxy wanted the same thing and when Luke and Anakin shattered Palpatine's fear and demoralization, all could rejoice in the good fortune.

So Michael Moore's movie about health care doesn't ring that far off from the state of the galaxy during Palpatine's time. Fear kept the population doing as he said, but was demoralizing at the same time. And a small band of Rebels and a guy with a very big heart and courage were all it took to make things right.