PT Was any part of Palpatine good?

Palpatine; the high school years.

 

It would be a bit of a cliche but maybe interesting if Palpatine had, like Anakin, grown up really poor or even exploited. Although that would be a bit too inconsistent with how Naboo had previously been portrayed and imagined unless there were somehow huge changes to the society in Palpatine's life.

 

Yes, I would argue that some part of Palpatine was in some way "good". He may have screamed "absolute power" at Windu, but I don't really think that's true. He already had that. In fact I really think he wanted some kind of peace in the galaxy, even though the means to that peace were certainly "questionable". He did want order and peace, saw that the Republic and Jedi failed to achieve that, so tried to find more drastic ways to achieve peace, even though it meant getting rid of democracy and the Old Republic. He may have wanted personal power for himself, but that does not exclude that he followed greater goals. Besides, I don't like the purely black and white perspective. There are many gray areas even in Palpatine's rise to power.

 

I think he sees the acquisition of "unlimited power" as the best means to achiever order and peace in the galaxy. Palpatine has a very paternalistic mindset. He thinks the average person is too weak and ignorant to pursue the course of action that's in their best interest. Palpatine thinks he knows what's best for everyone else, and therefore he takes great pleasure in enslaving other people's wills to his own. It validates his image of himself as a kind of benevolent god-king.

I believe that on the ROTS commentary Lucas even points out that Palpatine may be correct about some things, as far his ability to eliminate corruption and inefficiency goes. (Once he's done using them to establish his position, he certainly does away with those pesky commerce guilds quite handily.) The problem is that he takes away everyone else's right to choose how to live their lives. He stifles dissent. He thinks nothing of starting wars and blowing up entire planets in order to achieve his long-term objectives. He revels in the suffering of those who dare oppose his design for the universe. What's the point of living in a world where the trains run on time* if they only do so because you and everyone else is living under a constant cloud of fear and oppression?

*Of course in reality it's pretty much a myth that the trains ran on time more often in fascist Italy, but I think Lucas is simply making the argument that it wouldn't be worth it even if it were true.

 

He’s very good at feigning morals and making others think he is on their side and has their best interests at heart, be it Anakin, Dooku, Nute Gunray, the Jedi, or the Republic at large.

Palpatine understands caring and compassion, knowing how to imitate it perfectly.

He can act concerned, helpful, modest.
But inside, he feels none of it.

This is not to say that he has zero chance of seeing the light. However, such an act would be impossible from an outside party, and I can imagine exactly one scenario in which he would change for the better and even then, the hope is very vague.

 

What would be that scenario?