The American system is not a democracy. It is a constitutional republic. A democracy, if you attach meaning to terms, is a system of unlimited majority rule; the classic example is ancient Athens. And the symbol of it is the fate of Socrates, who was put to death legally, because the majority didn't like what he was saying, although he had initiated no force and had violated no one's rights.Democracy, in short, is a form of collectivism, which denies individual rights: the majority can do whatever it wants with no restrictions. In principle, the democratic government is all-powerful. Democracy is a totalitarian manifestation; it is not a form of freedom....
The American system is a constitutionally limited republic, restricted to the protectrion of individual rights. In such a system, majority rule is applicable only to lesser details, such as the selection of certain personnel. But the majority has no say over the basic principles governing the government. It has no power to ask for or gain the infringement of individual rights.
--Leonard Peikfoff
Or perhaps Bill Clinton.
In Star Wars, you had the choice of Annakin or his son. Those are the two sides that all the peons had to go with. They had no choice. Oh well.
Annakin (Vader) murders 6 billion people, including obliterating planets, Yoda and Obi Wan flat out lie to Luke about who his dad is, then after committing atrocities that would make Hitler blush, Vader kills his boss, and becomes bathed in white light and is a good guy again. Excuse me?
So, if Hitler rescued his nephew from a mortar attack right before the end in 45 he would have been swell too?
So, then we get to Episode 1... We have a guy 10 times worse than Hitler portrayed as a child saying such deep dialogue as "Yippee!!!!!", while hanging around with Jar Jar Binks.
Yet, we are to be shocked when Howard the Duck, and Radio Land Murders don't do well at the box office for Lucas. Star Wars was a fluke. Lucas sucks.
Word on the street is that he's re-editing the orginal trilogy with newly filmed footage so it will meld with Episodes 1-3. And note that the PHANTOM MENACE DVD is different from the one that played in movie theatres.
I never cared much for revisionists.
Ah, yes, now I understand the deep moral vision that infuses Lucas' movies. People are "things," and the desire to acquire these "things" (by, say, adopting children into a motherless home) is part of man's base nature that the pure of heart rise above. The noblest emotion is thus indifference.
Star Wars was an outstanding remake of The Hidden Fortress. The further Lucas has gotten from Kurosawa's source material, the worse his movies have gotten. He's a brilliant cinematographer, a mediocre storyteller and, as shown in this interview, a moronic philospher. Looking to him for wisdom of the ages is ridiculous.
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This seems to be the historical tendency. It's happening here as the constitution is deconstructed.
Anyway, I've always been a big Star Wars fan. I never noticed the political message of Star Wars until my later years, but it IS there - and whether he's a liberal or not - it's a reminder to all of us how easily governments can obtain absolute power. Once the whole SW saga is completed, I'm sure it will illustrate the decline from republic to empire well.
Imagine John Lennon without possessions... It's easy if you try...
Democracy is an anomaly, and it requires either a low population density, plentiful resource environment (e.g. the US) or a catastrophe which disrupts the old power structures (e.g. WW I and II).
That having been said, I enjoyed The Phantom Menace, even Jar-Jar, and from the trailers of the new one, it appears that I shall enjoy that one also.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
--W. B. Yeats
And "all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."
Somewhat better turns of phrase than Lucas, but then what did we expect?
--Boris
I also believe Rome survived for hundreds of years after Caesar's murder and prospered greatly. I don't know how any analogy of Rome would relate to America. It was totally different.
I suppose there are a few lessons from Rome we could apply, but again America is very different from what Rome once was.