Clone Wars Republic vs Separatists

You killed it, bro. We should just flip a coin. For the Republic!

Not seeing how any of that makes the Separatists good. They do all kinds of heinous things. The faults of the Republic were amplified by Palpatine. He's essentially smearing dirt into a wound. Nobody ever said republics are utopias. That's the point of "checks and balances" in governments like the U.S.' It assumes that certain groups WILL try to overstep their authority and need to be balanced to foster cooperation. Doesn't really work when you give overwhelming power to an executive officer like Palpatine, because then the moral or immoral use/abuse of that power is only as good as the person that wields it, and Palpatine was anything but.

Lucas talks about the films being lessons to young people. The big lessons I see him advocating are pretty much representation of the concept that: "Democracy is truly the worst form of government, except for all the others that have been tried," also big corporations' involvement in politics seems to be the root of all evils. With the CIS, corporations and government are more-or-less synonymous.

The Rebel Alliance aimed to topple the Empire to re-establish a Republic, with loyalists like Bail and Mon Mothma who completely opposed the deterioration of the Republic in the first place. The Republic was flawed, but it was clearly way more desirable than a dictatorship. Whereas the Confederacy is a military dictatorship more or less, with some individuals allowed to play senate and live in their own little bubble. Though I still don't quite understand how the politicians have their head in the sand so much that they can't really see that they're not actually controlling anything. Could a politician even travel CIS space as a Republic senator like Padme can in the Republic? Or do the droids insist that it's too dangerous and feed them some crap as to why they can't travel so as to keep all the secret war crimes they are committing from being discovered?

Democracy definitely has its faults, and things like "squabbling delegates" and bureaucratic procedures are pretty much a fact of any democracy. Palpatine knew how to aggravate those weaknesses and then set himself up as the savior to step in and fix them.

Someone like Padme can fight for the ideals of a political body that had existed in its current form for 1,000 years. The Separatist senators instead just gave up, and started a new government. The Republic was once a respectable government then turned into a sham by Palpatine's manipulation of the commerce guilds. The CIS on the other hand was a sham from its very conception though was put under the guise of being respectable. Though to everyone but the CIS members with their heads in the sand, that guise was painfully transparent.

The original question was simply whom do you root for more? I've got nothing against people that say Separatists. Nothing wrong with enjoying the villains. Palpatine is like the greatest Star Wars character IMO. I look forward to his scenes. Doesn't mean I have to try and put some positive spin on him and try to convince myself that he's a good guy. When it comes to stories with heroes/villains, half of it is in the villain. All the best heroes had equally, if not more interesting villains IMO. Can't really think of a story in which I liked the heroes but thought the villains sucked, or vice versa.

Sometimes its fun to root for the villains. I like the Decepticons better.

Governments, particularly democracies, cannot work if everyone that disagrees has the right to secede. If Candidate A wins the election for presidency and all those that support Candidate B cry about it and want to secede with Candidate B as their president, there is no justification for that and they should not be allowed to do that. It undermines the entire concept of democracy if representatives decide on a course of action and those that disagree can just cry and leave and then raise armies of their own.

On the topic of villains. If I think of Star Wars, and heroes vs. villains,

Star Wars has heroes like: Yoda, Anakin, Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon, Lando, Wedge, Chewie, Han Solo
Star Wars has equally cool villains like: Darth Vader, Palpatine, Stormtroopers, Darth Maul, Boba Fett, Jabba the Hutt.

With Spider-Man, he has villains like: Doc Octopus, Green Goblin, Venom, Hobgoblin, Carnage, Lizard

Batman has villains like: Joker, Penguin, Clayface, Bane, Mr. Freeze, Solomon Grundy, The Riddler.

The X-Men have heroes like: Wolverine, Cyclops, Iceman, Gambit, Rogue, Storm, Jean Grey
They have villains like: Magneto, Apocalypse, Sabretooth, Juggernaut, Mystique

etc.

Each has villains that IMO are just as interesting/charismatic as the heroes. Which makes the franchises better for it.

Compared to something like Ghost Rider. He has such classic villains like... um...

Now when it comes to TCW, I think the CIS is kind of lame . Dooku is the lamest of the Sith IMO and tactical droids and villains-of-the-week don't make up for it. Asajj was cool, but she's no longer with them, and Grievous should be sold for scrap metal.

The OT had more iconic heavy weights on each side. Not so much TCW.

The only hero that needs no villains is Booster Gold. He can carry things by himself.

Need to get some better villains with some better rhymes, d'oh! That's what makes Maul and Death Watch cool. Villains with motives. Obi-wan is a cool hero, IMO.