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Honduras and Star Wars
Jul. 2nd, 2009 08:33 amSorry for this blog becoming an all-Honduras-coup-all-the-time, but I had a thought last night that I'm going to share.
I was at home, channel-surfing, and one of the channels was playing Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith. It's fairly mindless entertainment, so I watched it for a bit while waiting for something else to come on. (That and I've seen it enough toknow where just about every scene fits into every other.)
At any rate, there was a scene with Samuel L. Jackson's character, where he suspects that the Chancellor is up to no good. Jackson says words to the effect of "if he doesn't step down, we'll have to take him out." Obviously, Jackson attempts to do so later and fails. In the context of the movie, this is a correct decision.
But, thinking about my ongoing Honduras discussions, watching the movie I asked, "what about impeachment?" Is there really no mechanism other than assassination to remove a Chancellor? And who the hell put the Jedi Council in charge as the final arbiter of what is a legitimate government?
The parallels to Honduras should be obvious. Yes, Zelaya was trying to do an end-run around the constitution. But the mark of a stable democracy is not putting the army on the streets every time a politician gets too ambitious.
I was at home, channel-surfing, and one of the channels was playing Star Wars - Revenge of the Sith. It's fairly mindless entertainment, so I watched it for a bit while waiting for something else to come on. (That and I've seen it enough toknow where just about every scene fits into every other.)
At any rate, there was a scene with Samuel L. Jackson's character, where he suspects that the Chancellor is up to no good. Jackson says words to the effect of "if he doesn't step down, we'll have to take him out." Obviously, Jackson attempts to do so later and fails. In the context of the movie, this is a correct decision.
But, thinking about my ongoing Honduras discussions, watching the movie I asked, "what about impeachment?" Is there really no mechanism other than assassination to remove a Chancellor? And who the hell put the Jedi Council in charge as the final arbiter of what is a legitimate government?
The parallels to Honduras should be obvious. Yes, Zelaya was trying to do an end-run around the constitution. But the mark of a stable democracy is not putting the army on the streets every time a politician gets too ambitious.
