Even political activist groups are jumping on the “Star Wars” bandwagon this week.
The video above is jam-packed with celebrities — including young actor Ty Simpkins of “Jurassic World” fame, Mark Ruffalo from Marvel’s blockbuster “Avengers” movies and comedian Baratunde Thurston, among others — who are using “Star Wars” lingo to urge viewers to take the “Jedi Pledge” to fight the influence of big money in politics.
(In case you haven’t heard, there’s a tremendous amount of hype surrounding the Friday opening of the movie “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”)
“Attention, the ‘Empire’ is real,” says Ruffalo, perhaps the best-known star of the group, in the clip. “But we can stop them, because the ‘Rebel Alliance’ is real too.”
The celebrities are promoting the message of a coalition of 30-plus groups, including the left-leaning Common Cause and DEMOS, which plans to roll out a series of additional videos, infographics and other media to rally opposition to what they’re calling the super-wealthy’s outsized influence on American elections.
It’s a pretty well-known argument, but in case you’ve missed it, here’s coalition founder Andrew Slack laying it out in a statement thick with forced “Star Wars” references:
“More than two centuries [after the American Revolution], we’ve made great strides, but a new empire is striking back at our republic, threatening to undo the progress we’ve made. It is comprised of super wealthy villains — accountable to no one –fueling their narrow, self-serving agenda through massive infusions of big money. big money, like the Death Star of the Empire, uses brute force to impose the will of the few upon the many. It has created an unlevel playing field for American voters, and corrupted our political system. What we need is an awakening of the Rebel Alliance.”
See what he did there?
Anyway, so you’re asking yourself, “What does all this have to do with Maine?”
As a sign of progress toward these groups’ ultimate goal, they briefly highlight the November passage of a new Maine law that expands the state’s Clean Elections program with biennial infusions of $2 million more in tax dollars.
Obviously, Mark Ruffalo and the majority of Maine voters who turned out on Election Day believed that was a good move, but it wasn’t universally lauded.
I won’t get into the finer points of the debate here, but read columnist Matt Gagnon’s take on why he opposed the referendum by clicking here, or David Farmer’s explanation of why he supported it here.
Interestingly, the very campaign that Team Ruffalo touted as a victory against Big Money In Politics was funded in part by Big Money In Politics.
