These words were spoken by Natalie Portman in her role in a Star Wars movie, The Revenge of the Sith, in 2005, as an autocrat took power. Some have taken to quoting the line as “So this is how democracy dies, to thunderous applause.”

The Star Wars franchise, as we all know, has made millions for its creators, a capitalist enterprise that has done well.

But perhaps its staying power, beginning a generation ago in 1977, is due to its light versus dark struggle. Its timing mirrors clashes in the real world between falling empires and ideologies: collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990’s; a war in Iraq in 1991; the 9/11 attacks in 2001; the following wars in Afghanistan and later Iraq; and more recently, engagements with Iran and other Middle Eastern countries, not to mention China and North Korea.

In a recent review of the book How Dictatorships Work, the reviewer writes: “…today’s would-be dictators . . . go after the courts, intimidate the press, hamper civil society, and use parliamentary majorities to push through new laws and constitutions. . . . Even in places where formal institutions are more robust, such as the United States, the informal norms that uphold democracy have become fragile.” [The book is by Barbara Geddes, Joseph Wright, and Erica Frantz; the review is by Anna Grzymala-Busse in Foreign Affairs, January/February 2020, “Paths to Power.”]

The reviewer’s “informal norms” suggest a certain decency, a regard for one’s opponents, a healthy humbleness.

No better example exists of regard for these norms than the late Senator John McCain’s concession speech on losing the presidential election to Barack Obama on November 5, 2008.

He said in part:

“Tonight — tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Sen. Obama, I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president.”

How would you judge each presidential candidate today beside McCain’s example?