It is often anecdotally noted how life mimics art, but should it not be rather expected that the reverse is true? After all, where else do artists draw their inspiration from other than real life? George Lucas’ Star Wars is a perfect example of art mimicking life to a noticeable extent. Though the Empire — their aesthetics, their tactics, their aura — is primarily intended to mimic Nazi Germany, many other analogies arise, especially in the plot and narrative regarding the transition from “republic” to empire, with Ancient Rome.
Since the dawn of known time, human nature has yearned towards order amidst chaos, desiring structure and rule to enforce common principles. However, in the process of achieving these ends, the means by which the ends are attempted to be achieved often skew and circumvent said principles, erring on the side opposite the values once sought to be protected. The process of attempted fair governance devolving into relative chaos, only for a sovereign ruler to rise to the head of the “Leviathan” repeats itself over and over in human history, Ancient Rome being a prime example. In the wake of Greek democracy, its failures, and its successes, the Romans attempted to institute a government representative of the people, yet not too volatile, in the form of a republic. The Roman Republic, however, as expected in our 20/20 hindsight, degenerated into a corrupt group of the social elite controlling an enormous populace.
Out of dissatisfaction with the Roman Elite, a figure named Augustus Caesar rose above the rest in the eyes of the people. His achievements as in the Roman civil war — reuniting the “republic” — earned him the support of the people. In the Star Wars universe, perhaps a figure with less virtuous intentions yet just as much popularity achieved through nearly the exact same means arises in Emperor Palpatine, formerly Chancellor. The Star Wars Republic, undergoing a seemingly unending civil war, “won” under the continually extended, “emergency wartime powers” leadership of Chancellor Palpatine. When the (concocted) opportunity arose, Palpatine catapulted himself into the position of permanent emperor. Both republics’ degradation into autocracy is perfectly described by Thomas Hobbes in The Leviathan:
“The attaining to this Soveraigne Power, is by two wayes…The other, is when men agree amongst themselves, to submit to some Man, or Assembly of men, voluntarily, on confidence to be protected by him against all others.”1
Augustus Caesar and the Emperor both left their republican government intact, not doing away with a powerless entity out of fear of the people’s potential uproar, but rather stripping them of what little powers they had left. Both rulers ruled absolutely, there is no doubt. However, rulers never last forever. In a twist akin to his adoptive father, Emperor Palpatine was betrayed by his most trusted subordinate, ending the Galactic Empire, at least temporarily.
In modern-day America, we see history repeating itself just the same as it always does. In relatively recent history, the executive branch has amassed an amount of power our forefathers would never have envisioned. Starting with the expansion of bureaucracy in the New Deal, WWII, and beyond, the executive branch, especially the presidency, has a disproportionate amount of power relative to the other ideally equal branches of our government. More recently, the War Powers Act of 1973 gives the President control over the military unprecedented, not dissimilar to the “temporary” powers “Chancellor” Palpatine was given to conduct his “war”.
With the perfect hindsight of history available to Americans today, it should surprise us when we see its negative aspects repeating itself. However, it appears that human nature, in art, in Ancient Rome, or today, inevitably drifts towards the condition of a sovereign, unitary, autonomous ruler.
— Gregory Mathias
Word Count — 582
1Hobbes, Thomas, 1588-1679. Leviathan. Baltimore :Penguin Books, 1968.
The West in the Pre-Modern World 