Did you hear? The U.S. presidential election next week is the most important election of our lifetime. Maybe that’s true. But it’s been said of every election since Reagan and beyond. Why does politics feel this way? Are the stakes supposed to always feel existential, or like life and death? Beltway Banthas explores this through the Star Wars lens with special guest DAVID FRENCH (The Dispatch) author of a new book, Divided We Fall: America’s Secession Threat and How to Restore Our Nation.

David lays out the looming threat of secession movements to our union, and we reflect on Star Wars’ lessons regarding civil discord and rebellion. The presidency has become a Death Star level threat, so David French and Stephen Kent diagnose why and what we can do about it. Star Wars is all about balance, and the constant interplay of light and dark. In this episode, we pose a theory, that it’s federalism that could balance our politics. After all, it has been both an agent of darkness and one of great light.

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