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I believe that a lot of people, deep down in their heart, do not or cannot believe this, and that mental blindness is at the root of much judicial stupidity.

I'm ressurrecting this thread due to the approach of Episode III and the very soon official release of the novelization of same, which will be out next week. Well, that and because it's an interesting topic...

After looking back at the two prequels, and also having looked at the original trilogy, I've decided that the Empire is flat-out the best choice, for several reasons.

First we will dispose of the ones we already know of: first off, representative democracy on a galactic scale is pretty much useless. Second off, the likely consequences of the disintegration of the Empire would be a Hobbesian jungle war of individual planets and small confederations a galaxy wide. Third, as evidenced by Luke's wish to go to the Empire's Academy, Lando's admission that the Empire had not previously hassled Cloud City, and the fact that everyone seems to be armed indicates that the Empire isn't terribly repressive. And, BTW, the Empire had a clear system of succession in mind, to keep infighting to a minimum. It's quite clear that Palpatine had in mind a 'Sith Empire', remembering the rule of 'there are always two, a master and an apprentice'. The apprentice, Darth Vader, would succeed Palpatine and groom some person gifted in the force as the next heir apparent.

However, there's another two reasons for the Empire to be the better choice:

First off, there are counter-elements at work in the Empire, that is, factions willing to depose the Emperor. We know this because it's a major plot point - the climactic scene of "The Empire Strikes Back" where Vader tells Luke he's his father, that they can overthrow the Emperor and 'rule the galaxy as father and son'. A Vader/Luke led Empire is going to be qualitatively different from a Palpatine-led Empire, I don't think I need to elaborate on that.

The second, and more amazing one, is that the Empire would be - and this will sound counterintuitive, but consider the facts - a more humane and moral government.

Wait, the original 'Evil Empire' better than the Republic?

Consider the things going on in the first movie: We see slavery on Tatooine and crime lords being local celebrities at races. Under the Empire, during 'Return of the Jedi', the Hutt crime lords instead seem to be hiding out in the middle of nowhere in some dingy hellhole of a fortress. There is no mention of slavery - if nothing else Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, is inclined to homicidal venegance and would have dealt with the slave trade... personally.

So really, we can blame Luke for being a hotheaded young fool and not taking the opportunity given him at Bespin to effect a relatively peaceful change, merely by changing his affiliation from the Jedi to the Sith and trading one spoon-bending tradition for another. He almost certainly would have been able to save his friends as well, although he didn't know this - apparently, from the novelization, Vader/Anakin was able to get such amnesty/protection for Padme Amidala from Palpatine.

Trebuchet's Log, Addendum

I believe that Cobra has entered the bar incognito. I'm not quite certain I believe my eyes. He's pulling the old "Conneticut Yankee" routine, you know, where King Arthur and The Boss wander around unknown. I'm almost bored enough to see if it's really him and maybe follow him. The only thing preventing me from doing so is the likelihood of some sort of general war being the end result.

Still...

Ahh, some sort of war would undoubtedly break out anyways. I'll leave a lil' note for the staff to cover for me. I'm taking a rifle and a vacation.

Trebuchet's Log, May 8, 2103

The force sent to fulfill, as best we could, our mutually incompatible treaty obligations have returned. I am authorizing a daylong 'Happy Hour' for the good of Mars, and am waiving the cover fee, although I suppose the Cult Of Vlork will continue to extract donations to the faith by holding people upside down by their ankles and shaking loose change.

Trebuchet, having returned to the TempleBar after the emergency mission to Hellas, is too busy organizing a victory parade/party/kegger celebrating and commemerating those who rescued and helped their fellow Martians to catch wind of any incipient hostilities between the forces of Lord Vlork of Olympia and the Marineris Colony.

It would, in fact, not be until noonish the next day that the Chrysians monitoring the steady flow of radio transmissions, satellite data, and reports from TempleBar agents bothered to hand Trebuchet and other unofficial rulers of the Chrysian colony a report on the incident.

Which left the Chrysians in a serious conundrum: they had an old treaty of friendship with Lord Vlork, and a newer nonaggression pact with the Marineris colonists. Finally, after several shots of liquor, they reached a decision: They would not *attack* the new colony, per se, but they would hold an uninvited party on the base.

Not recognizing a crowd of drunk, but almost unarmed Martians as a threat, the automated robot guardians of the new colony did not put up a fight, and the skeleton detail overlooking the base couldn't keep out the mob of gate crashers.

Thus, for the second time, much damage was done to the main dome, although this time the airlocks were left intact and the life support system was undamaged. Still, several computers were down, graffiti and garbage was strewn everywhere, and base security was found unconscious, hung over, and with panties on their heads when the main force returned.

The Party Warriors had done their job.

I've heard this song before, and sang a few verses as well. ^_^

It would probably be something like 'multiple premeditated murders seperated in time' for starters, with a hard look at additional factors such as brutality/sadisticness of the murder, whether sexual abuse occurred in commission of the crime, etc. The guy who kills five people in a shootout at the bank is not in this category, even if he's robbed banks before (he should be locked up for a really long time, possibly life, depending on what happened, but he's not in this 'richly deserving few' category). Examples of people meeting the criteria, for whatever reasons, would be Jeffery Dahmer, Ted Bundy, that BTK serial killer, and the like. I'm uncertain if Shaun Barrett, being in Australia, knows who I'm talking about, but they were unusually brutal serial killers. I'm certain Australia has had one or two over the years.

Technically speaking, the commandment is "Thou shalt not MURDER", which is a very important distinction.

However, as applies to the death penalty, I'd say I have a 'richly deserving few' policy on it (on Earth, in normal circumstances - early colonization of Mars is another issue). Basically speaking, you have some crimes which are so horrible that only death is an appropriate punishment, and you also have some criminals who would probably generate additional deaths even if left alive in prison.

The latter category, in case you're wondering, is the Osama types, generally terrorists, whose imprisonment carries a high risk of followers/whatever staging a hostage situation to try to win release or something. The former category is for people like the serial child rapist/murderer in Iran who was recently hung.

DonPanic's solitary confinement exists in the US, actually, for really nasty criminals.

Trebuchet's Log, Addendum

Just making myself a note to build the ironworks someplace way the hell away from the TempleBar, perhaps in some godforsaken crater. Our main trade is entertainment, tourism (such as exists on Mars) and foodstuffs, don't need metalworking mucking the place up.

We now have a nonaggression pact with the newcomers and the old one with Lord Vlork. This will make us the Switzerland of Mars, neutral, rich, and... hmm, perhaps we're more like the Casablanca of Mars, given the boozy atmosphere and fights. The chanting cultists give it an Indiana Jones type atmosphere, though.

Hmm.

Reminder to self, see what sort of video equipment we have back in the TempleBar and think about filming a movie. Cheap export for earth means more money. Perhaps we could purchase some useful earth equipment, like a US Congressman or two.

Trebuchet's Log, May 1, 2103

The first traffic accident on Mars has occured today, as we unexpectedly ran into one of the rovers that the new colonists had sent north when navigating the canyons. What are the odds that such a thing would happen? Luckily, no one was killed, and the rovers are only mildly damaged, but I can't believe they have the gall to accuse us of being drunk just because we painted our rovers to look like beer cans.

In any case, this "Colonel Barkley" seems reasonably peaceful enough, although with our only standards of comparison being Lord Vlork's cultists our perception might be a bit skewed. In any case, we've decided to start trade talks here, since neither party is willing to leave a damaged rover behind.

Whatever.

Yes, this sums up my hopes as well. I was pissed that Dook would use such a... well, cheap shot, saying that I didn't understand or know, when I did. There just happens to be a line in my mental sand I won't cross to cure those things.

...

I'm definitely not responding to such emotional ranting, especially when you don't know a damn thing about the person on the other side of the monitor.

EDIT: Perhaps it's better to say that I have sufficient personal experience with genetic disorders to be singularly unshamed and unmoved by your last posts, and leave it at that.