Join me, and Geetsly’s, in the shade, why don’tcha? We’ll tell ya how republics die … and when.

OR: “The Morbid Reasons Why the Republic Fell LONG Before the Battle of Coruscant.” ‘Murica? Ya might wanna listen up.

Okay, this channel, Geetsly’s, does amazing Star Wars-lore videos which are usually an informative treasure trove if you’re into … Star Wars lore.

I can quit whenever I want to. And when I want to, I will quit. So, nyah.

But I was struck by something else while listening to this usually escapist (for me) channel.

The deaths of republics, of democracies, of free societies of any kind are always the same. Throughout history and fiction, it’s a laundry list-progression from struggling/vigilant freedom, or the attempt at … to full-blown fascism of some kind. The lack of variation is obvious once whatever veneer is gently brushed away.

Even just two minutes in, this video feels like you could replace “the Galactic Republic” with … “our republic” (as in what the United States of America is) and “Chancellor Palpatine” with … damn, it’d probably be easier to name the handful of political leaders who aren’t actively working toward, collaborating with, or doing nothing while democracy dies with thunderous applause, than to name the ones who are.

What he said.

There is fucking SHADE cast at the U.S. and probably at other corrupt republics and democracies in the real world. And that is NOT UNINTENTIONAL. It’s not incidental. But that’s hardly surprising in a lore video about Star Wars’ “Galactic Republic.” For all Star Wars’ flaws as a diverse and representative fandom, it’s rarely failed to imitate real life political progressions crisply. If one mentally replaces “alien species” with “foreign nationals” the politics of damn-near any in-universe conflict becomes so much more familiar. Even the seemingly labyrinthine politics of the prequels trilogy are no more complex than any faced in the real world. It’s simply on…