Every election since the 2005 release of “Star Wars: Episode III – The Revenge of the Sith” has involved an online spectacle of whoever lost the election claiming that democracy was nearing an end. If you turn the lens specifically to “Star Wars” Twitter, you’ll see a wall of tweets sharing this image and iconic quote from a distraught Sen. Padmé Amidala. “So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause,” she says.

George Lucas liked to say in promoting the film that the failed democracies of history were often not taken over by autocrats, but given away to them with popular support. This is true. However, it’s worth looking at what precipitated the “thunderous applause” in the first place. What gave Chancellor Palpatine the mandate to end democracy and the Jedi Order in one fell swoop?