The Jedi
Order is a mess of hypocrisy and contractions but I wouldn’t put it entirely on
them the blame for Anakin’s political naivety. The problem with the Jedi is not that they
didn’t believe in freedom and democracy, the problem was they became a bit too
tolerant and self-serving. They believed in political freedom in a way that
worked for them. As long as the Republic was there listening to them, they were
fine with it. They were fine fighting for the corrupt Senate that kept them in
power. That’s why I say they were self-serving, they believed in it but they
didn’t turn their beliefs into actions because it could jeopardize the power
they had.it’s kind
of funny everyone calls Anakin a wannabe dictator but conveniently forget the
Jedi Council was planning a coup to take over the Senate because the Senate was
going to take their power away. The problem
with the Jedi Council is the same problem we have with senators like Padmé and
Bail. The do believe in democracy (GFFA style) but their political interests come
first. But that’s human nature, there’s always a gap between what we believe in
and what we do. The Jedi council is no different. And I say Jedi Council here
because most of Jedi weren’t not involved or even aware of the Council shady
practices.Their idea
of democracy is a government that works great for them and that’s the Republic until ROTS. Anakin, on the other
hand, is much more aware of the faults of the Republic and how it’s not really
there to help everyone. He knows it’s
broken and he understands why it’s broken but the Jedi only taught him that it
was great so, of course, he has no idea how to fix it. Anakin doesn’t have a better
solution because no one taught him one. The only education he got came from the
Jedi and for the Jedi to teach him how to fix the Republic they would have to
admit it was broken, something they were not willing to do.People take
that dialogue way out of proportion, imo. I don’t know if it still an result of
the prequel hate movement when that scene was a fan favorite for those who
wanted to trash the prequels, Anakin and Hayden. But if we look back we will
see what Anakin said wasn’t all that wrong, considering his background.Anakin: I don’t think the system works.
Says
Anakin, the kid who was born a slave and whose mother remains one even though
he was part of the greatest and most compassionate organization of peacekeepers
in the galaxy.Padme: How would you have it work?
Asks the wealthy,
privileged senator.Anakin: We need a system where the politicians sit
down and discuss the problem… agree what’s in the best interest of all the
people…and then do it.Textbook democracy.
Padmé: That’s exactly what we do. The trouble
is that people don’t always agree.Bullshit! That’s
not at all *exactly* what you do. But of course, as a wealthy privileged
senator, she believes it.Anakin: Well, then they should be made to.
Says the
former slave who KNOWS the Senate corruption and bureaucracy is destroying
people lives in the Outer Rim.Padmé: By whom? Who’s gonna make them?
Padmé immediately
gets defensive. In her mind, what they have is working so why change it? why
take her power away?Anakin: I don’t know. Someone.
Anakin
admits he doesn’t have a solution. He is just a kid who lived in suffering, who
wants to free slaves but no one listens to him. Every time he tries to get people
to free slaves and help the poor he’s told it’s the system’s fault and yet no
one wants to admit the system is broken. Anyone in his shoes would be desperate
for someone to listen to them and do something to help the needy.Padmé: You?
Anakin: Of course not me.
Padmé: But someone.
Anakin: Someone wise.
Anakin
doesn’t want power for himself and he’s fully aware he shouldn’t make making
these decisions. But somehow all people hear is Anakin wants to rule the galaxy.
I don’t get it. Honestly, I’m more curious about Padmé’s reaction here. She
goes defensive and immediately wonders if Anakin wants power for himself. I
wonder why.Padmé: Sounds an awful lot like a dictatorship
to me.Not really.
A dictatorship is an intricate system with its own set of rules and defining characteristics.
It’s more than someone making the parties involved agree. We could say the same
about a strong president making concessions to pass a law. Yes, George is planting
the seeds of the Empire here but if you look at the scene without knowing who
Anakin will become, what he’s saying is not that outrageous.It’s a 19
years old kid who is desperate for someone, anyone to end the suffering in the
galaxy. Show me a teenager who never had some wild political views and I’ll
show you a liar. it takes a whole lot more than saying “I want someone to
fix the world” for someone to be considered a fascist.Anakin: Well,
if it works.Anakin
doesn’t understand what democracy truly is because he never experienced as
a slave or as a Jedi. And Padmé doesn’t understand how someone can think
democracy is not the best solution because she’s too privileged to truly
understand where Anakin is coming from.Padmé and
the Jedi Council inability to understand Anakin comes from the same place. It’s
that arrogance and privileged that led them to believe their way is the right
way and anyone who doesn’t see they are right are naïve or ignorant.In the end
it’s not a matter of ideology, it’s a matter of convenience. Anakin, Padmé and the
Jedi all believe in good but Anakin is the only who understand the Republic is
not working because he’s the only who is not benefiting from it.It’s also important to realize that, despite what Padme says, he’s not actually describing a dictatorship. A council of people discuss the problem and then, someone wise, makes them come up with and implement a solution. Politicians should be made to discuss and agree on what is best for everyone. That’s what he’s proposing. That’s it.
The funny thing is, that’s literally a system of government which already exists in the small scale within the GFFA. That’s how the Jedi Council operates. That’s how Naboo operates with the Royal Council discussing options and the Queen deciding which to implement. He’s literally describing the way Padme once ran her government and she describes it as a dictatorship. Oh, Padme, I love you, but self aware you are not.
Padme is listening to and answering what Anakin said, not what he might have meant. He described how the Senate is supposed to work, and she, the politician, tried to explain that getting thousands of worlds to agree on anything is hard work. Anakin may indeed be thinking about the “best interests” of your average Tatooine resident who doesn’t care about politics but just wants to be safe and support a family. Or he may not – at this point he’s been part of the galactic elite for years and under Palpatine’s sway, so how much he still identifies with his early upbringing is an open question.
But Padme is thinking in terms of her job and her personal history, and the “best interests” of Naboo are not necessarily the “best interests” of the Trade Federation, to take one example. So people don’t always agree. They “should be made to”? One person is going to tell an entire galaxy what’s best? Anakin isn’t saying “someone wise should guide and facilitate the meetings so that everyone will act like grown ups and actually compromise”, he literally says people should be forced to agree. How exactly are you going to do that? Mind control? Arrest people who argue? Kill them? That does sound an awful lot like a dictatorship. A council advising a monarch who then decides is not making people agree, and I’d be deeply surprised if Padme silenced dissenters during her reign.
Wait a minute, I thought Padme was chosen as Queen in a planetwide election? She was definitely elected by the people as Queen. She just doesn’t really listen to the senate. Her defensiveness is actually quite funny since 10 years ago she said herself that the senate no functions. It’s funny how as soon as she gets in the senate, she forgets how the senate’s bickering and the Jedi’s inaction costed her planet so many lives. Surely if things went as Anakin pictured it, the Naboo blockade would’ve been resolved a lot more faster and effectively?
A class struggle in the GFFA seems to be quite real and inevitable.
Sales pitch to Skywalker on a new form of government:
People’s Democratic Dictatorship.
Ever heard of this form of government? Again, I’m sorry if this seems overly sensitive in terms of world politics. But suspend your disbelief for a minute and read this wiki, then tell me that this doesn’t sound like the sort of train that Skywalker would jump on:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_democratic_dictatorship
Okay, so Anakin Skywalker has fascist tendencies. But if you look at the Jedi’s entire train of thought, they don’t exactly breed appreciation of freedom and democracy, do they? Because we are born with a high midichlorian count, because we’re genetically more intoned with the Force, we are entitled to be peacekeepers of the galaxy? Because of our powers, we can show disdain and mistrust towards the career politicians? The actual government? We can charge into a politically sensitive situation?
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