If it makes you feel any better, it's because Gene Rodenberry was a Communist, and the Federation is supposed to be an idealized version thereof. He had to tone it down in TOS because of executive meddling (one rare example where that became a good thing), but season 1 of TNG in particular, and indeed, TNG as a whole, pretty much embodies what Rodenberry wanted the Federation and Starfleet to look like.
Right. I didn’t actually realize that until a friend pointed out the actual governing/economic system of the Federation (and this was in late college) and I was like “Uhh…ew.”
Less that and even outside of Section 31, these people have a...fanatical, belief in their ideals. You can see this in Riker's insistence in how combat isn't part of a Starfleet officer's duty (yes, he actually said this in TNG), or the way their crews interact with each other or their superiors. They believe that they've moved on past primitive and barbaric things like conflict, ideology, and even hierarchal societies...
...which is going to make the fall so much harder once the Empire finally digs itself out of the bones they got buried in, and angrily force the Feds to take a good look at how little they've actually moved on.
Right. Which I find incredibly ironic, because humans
are flawed. Sure, we try to improve…
but we can’t (as in, are incapable of) being ‘perfect.’
As you said, deep down, at least the Empire
admits it.
Well...I'm kinda aiming for the latter, but less Sidious-era Empire and more Pellaeon or Fel-era Empire.
Well, we'll see. But it definitely won't be Sidious' Dark Empire. If Thrawn could get away with his 'Empire of the Hand' in Legends canon, something similar should be possible here too.
Right, and honestly…that’s not
that bad. The lighter factions in BattleTech are much the same…effectively feudal rulers but no arbitrary arrests/detentions/massacres…they tend to go for far more subtle political machinations and the
occasional “black bag arrest where someone is put in front of a classified court of law.” But that’s an exception rather than the norm.
Ironically, Sidious was neither a misogynist or a Human supremacist. He just let COMPNOR play its game because it was convenient, but when it wasn't, he just ignored them. Ysanne Isard was a woman after all, and Sidious knew about Tarkin promoting Daala to oversee the Maw branch of the Empire's superweapons program. Mas Amedda remained Sidious' personal representative on the Imperial Senate, and was the only person to rival Sate Pestage's influence on the Imperial Ruling Council. The Emperor's Dark Adepts also included both women and nonhumans, and Mara Jade wasn't the only woman among the Emperor's Hands.
Right. Honestly, if anything I think his philosophy was along the lines of “Don’t care who and what you are, can you do what I want you to do” and if the answer was yes, great; if not, “eh, just don’t disrespect me and everything will be fine.” Laying waste to entire planets as “object lessons” or allowing his underlings to do so, however…he was effectively like the Greek gods of old, if he noticed you…look out. Guy with supernatural powers who has no compunction about (and probably
enjoys) abusing them…
Fun fact about Admiral Motti: Sidious actually held him in contempt for his opinions on the Force. Getting Force Choked by Vader for making light of the Force's power might not actually have been the first time he ran afoul of an annoyed Darksider.
Nice.
Eh...let's give credit where it's due. As bureaucratic and faction-ridden as the New Republic was in Legends, they weren't as stupid as their counterpart in Disney canon. Anyone who suggests disbanding 90%(!) of the military because "democracy doesn't need protecting" is going to get laughed out of the rotunda at best. Likewise for the sheer bureaucratic makework that's a "capital on rotation".
It's not
entirely unrealistic, though it's more for armies than navies, but even so, in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War in the early 1990s, the U.S. downsized significantly from what we had available to face Soviet/Warsaw Pact forces, which was a pattern following, well, pretty much every significant conflict we have been involved in. Same goes for most countries...up until the next crisis hits.
She and the entire senior staff of the expeditionary force are all Clone War veterans, after all. And while most junior officers are of the new breed, they're quickly wising up and shaking off the ideological deadweight. Not with their commander being so inspiring, winning battle after battle and playing them up as liberators against the shadow dictatorship that is the Federation.
I know, the latter is ironic considering the Empire is an autocratic state, but the Empire doesn't hide it, nor does it try to make people into nor want them to be perfect and idealistic caricatures of intelligent life. In the immortal words of Simon Phoenix, "you can't take away people's right to be assholes."
Eh, that's not really true with the Empire, at least under Palpatine. It's less "letting people do what they want day to day as long as it doesn't hurt others" and more "these mere mortals are beneath my notice so I don't give a shit about them or their problems." The rank and file of the Empire basically vary depending on their personalities.
Contrast that with, say, BattleTech's Federated Suns, which at its core is a feudal system, but one bound by a constitutional order. Political manipulations are very subtle and mainly ensuring that nobody goes too far off the rails in advocating extreme democracy OR autocracy. And considering its neighbors are Space North Korea and Space WW2 Japan, people don't complain. Actual black ops stuff is SUPER rare and not about enforcing political conformity but actual national security threats. Yeah it's got a lot of problems, but for the most part people are left alone to figure them out through democratic processes (each individual world being a representative government of one form or another but usually a Westminster system). No Section 31 or ISB stuff. And no letting say, a massive organized crime cartel run a backwater planet...
Edit: So far as Jaenera and Co are concerned, yes, I get it. I'm just saying that it's quite refreshing.
And yeah, Pellaeon or Fel...I don't have issues with them, they aren't narcissistic SOBs, just products of their system trying to do their best.