Post-referendum blues

Great.
Now that the bigots have convinced half the population to vote against their own interests, any trade deal with the European Union will undoubtedly mean TTIP being forced down our throats whether we agree (or know about) with it or not.
http://waronwant.org/what-ttip

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transatlantic_Trade_and_Investment_Partnership


Rant over.

A demand (or four)
1. A general election within the year so each party can explain to the British public their plans post-Exit (from the European Union for readers outside the UK)
2. A referendum on the acceptance or rejection of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership
(TTIP)
3. A second referendum regarding re-nationalisation of the railways
4. Allow the populations of Northern Ireland and Scotland to decide democratically to leave or stay in the United Kingdom

How to do Star Wars.

I think the problems with the preludes are that the motivations of the new characters are not dealt with sufficiently. There are confusing points about the alliance between the Trade Federation and Dooku and also how the Jedi can use an army that surely they know was created by the Sith, or at least the dark side.

So changes.

Jango Fett is Anakin's father. Not biological however. Jango married very young, say at age fourteen, and his bride was already pregnant. Later he finds out the pregnancy was a result of rape, paralleling the hidden history of Boba Fett in the Expanded Universe, and events force him to abandon his young family and go into exile.
Meanwhile, the child Anakin is discovered by the Jedi and taken to the Temple when he is very young, say four, and he only finds out about Fett when he is much older and Fett had already been killed (by Obi-Wan Kenobi) giving the young Jedi a reason to turn against the Order and his former Master.

I have a theory that Darth Sidious would provide Jango with entry codes to the Senate building and a cloaked ship. He then commissions the bounty hunter to kidnap Chancellor Palpatine and to kill any Jedi advising or protecting him.  Fett escapes, but inadvertently provides the Jedi with clues to where he had been operating-Kamino-which leads them to uncovering-and commandeering the Clone Army.

Dooku isn't a Sith at first but he is a murderer and Jedi apostate. He learns about Syfo-Dyas commissioning the Clone Army on the Jedi's behalf and is offended that they would take such a violent course of action. He formally leaves the Order, claims his inheritance on Serrenno, locates Syfo-Dyas-perhaps with the help of Jango Fett-and murders the Jedi in cold blood. He then assumes the alias "Tyrannous", returns to Coruscant in secret and deletes the information about Kamino and the systems supplying it from the temple archives.

A number of other systems are deleted from official records by agents unknown which contributes towards increasing perceived resentment towards the Republic/Senate and corporate bodies such as the Trade Federation.
Meanwhile, Dooku's actions in providing funds for the clone army cause the Banking Clan to have their Senior Head Executive, Hego Damask, assassinated. Before the Naboo Crisis, then-Chancellor Valorum secretly met with Syfo-Dyas and Damask to discuss arranging an army in secret to protect the Republic if it was ever threatened by inside or outside forces. Damask would arrange in secret to transfer credits to a fund set up by Valorum for this purpose while Syfo-Dyas contacted the Kaminoan cloners to personally commission the army. As a Jedi master he would be accepted and trusted by the cloners, they would keep the order secret and all without the actual knowledge of the Jedi council or the senate.

Grievous, a being Dooku originally chooses to head the clone army, is the only survivor of the attack on Damask; Damask being in reality the Sith Lord Darth Plagueis. Severely injured in the battle, Grievous is preserved and restored by the Banking Clan in the hope that they could use him in the future to recoup their losses due to Damask's actions.

It is not long before various secessionist factions contact Dooku in secret. He himself contacts the Banking Clan, who loan him Grievous and several fleets worth of warships. The Banking Clan are joined by the Trade Federation. They are blackmailed into aiding Dooku by-the still surviving Sith Apprentice-Darth Maul. Maul, under instructions from Sidious, threatens to expose the Trade Federation's links with the Sith to the Senate and Jedi Order if they don't allow Dooku access to their military assets and the loaning of several dozen planets for use as bases and supply depots.
Dooku learns of Maul's survival and sends Jango Fett to capture him as a final test to assess Fett's suitability as the prime clone template. Maul is captured, later to be killed by clones during the Battle of Geonosis.

At around this time Dooku comes to realise the identity of Darth Sidious. From this it is clear that Dooku, Grievous and Nute Gunray have clear identifiable motives against the Jedi, Sith and the Senate. During the events of The Phantom Menace/the Naboo crisis Anakin is coerced into an arranged marriage with Padme after he is orphaned by the slaying of Qui-Gonn Jinn by Darth Maul.

The covert support that the Trade Federation provides to Dooku distracts him from training the clone army thus preventing him from commandeering it before the Jedi are able. After the assassination attempt on Palpatine Kenobi follows clues left by Fett to Kamino. After informing the Jedi council of the Clone Army's existence he is then captured by Fett and taken to Geonosis. Padme and Anakin try to rescue him by arriving incognito as potential delegates for the proposed Separatist parliament and war council. Their attempted execution, during which Jango Fett is slain by Kenobi, gives Yoda time to arrive with several divisions of clones and hundreds of Jedi Knights. This attack also provokes several trade guilds into covertly supplying the separatist movement with arms/droid and organic troops/pilots/credits or simply formally denouncing the Senate and leaving the Republic. Dooku escapes from Geonosis and is soon contacted and recruited by Darth Sidious to be his new apprentice.

Nine months later Sidious' identity is nearly exposed when Nute Gunray is captured by Anakin Skywalker. The result is Gunray and a Jedi witness are slain by Anakin. The last attack is witnessed by Kenobi. The two Jedi fight, with Anakin almost gaining the upper hand when he loses his lightsaber. Kenobi then escapes into exile rather than slay his former apprentice. Anakin leaves the front lines to return to Coruscant in order to confront his friend and mentor Chancellor Palpatine. The result of this confrontation is that Sidious is aged by the force lighting Anakin is able to deflect back at him and Anakin is dismembered by four rapid lightsaber strikes.

Over the next three months Dooku and Grievous are slain, Padme gives birth under Yoda's protection and Kenobi takes the children with him into exile. A repaired and renamed Darth Vader enters the temple using Anakin's access codes allowing him and several battalions of clones to eliminate virtually all the Jedi in the temple. Meanwhile the Jedi in the field are assassinated by the clones under their command. The excuse for this is Anakin's own "assassination attempt" on Palpatine; evidenced by Palpatine's new appearance and lightsaber wounds on slain senate guards. The assault on the temple leaves very few survivors but Vader himself suffers the effects of poison gas as part of the temple's automatic defences.

Edits made 14/6/2016

Palpatine's ascendance to Supreme Chancellor need not be by election or acclamation by the Senate; he is Valorum's chosen replacement if he dies in office or is impeached. The usual term of a sitting chancellor is ten years (or let's say it could be). Valorum is impeached for interfering in the affairs of a sovereign member of the Republic (Naboo) and so Palpatine takes over the rest of his term. With evidence growing of increasing support for the new separatist movement, Naboo senator Jar Jar Binks (as Sidious had predicted) proposes giving Palpatine emergency executive powers in order to solve the crisis. The senate also votes to extend Palpatine's term of office indefinitely.

Edits made 24/6/2016

Regarding the droid armies, lets assume that, if most are used by the Separatists to invade Loyalist (i.e., to the Republic or Senate) or Neutral systems, this would leave many Separatist systems totally defenceless and reliant on organic troops. Similarly a minority of the droid armies (say 30%) are used by Republic systems, regardless of allegiance or neutrality, for purely defensive purposes.
Droids of the same model will not fight each other, again leading to further use of organic forces by both sides up to a point roughly six months into the war when 70% of combatants on either side are neither clone nor droid. The droid armies are ultimately shut down and dismantled when the Trade Federation agrees to join the Galactic Empire.

On Neoliberalism and Libertarianism

What is "Neoliberalism"?

Neoliberalism (sometimes called "Libertarianism") espouses the idea of  individual liberty=liberty of capital but it's reality involves state and international organisations, principally the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, commanding their own economies and those of developing countries in order to decrease environmental and labour regulation in a "race to the bottom"  to minimise the labour costs of businesses in favour of cheaper production of goods.
One of these methods is to lend money to developing countries with the proviso that these countries deregulate their economies. 
This is happening in the UK and USA with the introduction of private prisons and immigration detention centres. Also, the so-called "Foundation" hospitals, "Free" schools and "City Academies" in the UK. These are run by private companies and individuals but receive government funding.
If anything, these programmes represent an increase in centralism and a decrease in local accountability. UK Academies receive their money from central government but are not accountable to local authorities like the existing state comprehensives are.

Neo-liberalism also involves denying or restricting the rights of workers to organise unions, the UK has laws against sympathy strikes and the current Conservative government is trying to limit the way unions can vote on strikes by insisting on higher turnouts. The marketization of higher education has increased with students facing higher debts (while) receiving fewer guarantees of a graduate job and no improvements in the learning experience.

To add: the realities of neo-liberalism include perpetual war and the denial of many individual freedoms. Possession of drugs is prohibited as is prostitution. Other non-violent offenses can land one in prison, including the "offense" of moving to a country of one's choosing to escape war, persecution or simply to better oneself.
Nonsensical and even racist terms are used by governments and their media allies like "illegal immigrants" and "welfare dependants". Or see George Monbiots' summary/essay:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/apr/15/neoliberalism-ideology-problem-george-monbiot?CMP=share_btn_tw

Nations who defy neo-liberalism face interference in their political structure/processes, economic blockades, the propaganda war and even outright invasion in the case of Iraq. Libya, Iran, Russia, Ukraine, Venezuela and Syria have also faced the consequences of their defiance.
Secret trade deals like TTIP allow corporations to sue governments for enacting laws that intervene in their profits therefore it is not liberal, it is not progressive and it is definitely anti-democratic.
Liberals believe in the democratic process, only rabid Randians/Objectivists (alongside Neo-Conservatives) think intervention is acceptable and the idea of national sovereignty dates back to the treaty of Westphalia at the end of the Thirty Years War.

Libertarianism and Marxism.

Both are really offshoots of classical 18th century liberalism so there really ought not to be any conflict. For example liberalism rejects unnecessary taxation and government, at least in the absence of universal suffrage.

Marx talked about the exploitation of surplus labour. This means a worker is paid enough to keep him alive but he/she has to spend most of their time doing so while the capitalist keeps the surplus in the form of profits. Or put simply, the reason working hours are so long, and why businesses always complain about the minimum wage and limits on working hours, is so your surplus labour can be turned into profit.

Strictly speaking, capitalism is no different from slavery or feudalism but it claims to be voluntary as workers can always look for alternative employment unlike a serf. Of course, the big unanswered question is why does the capitalist "work" if he doesn't need to? This is always the argument about "welfare payments discourage people from working", but the amount of money required to buy even a small company would set anyone up for life. Therefore, there is more to "work" or labour than simply personal survival.
This would all work OK in some kind of fantasy world but often there just isn't enough work to go around because other people will still allow themselves to be exploited. Not only that: even if you are made redundant because your labour is no longer profitable then you are still technically being exploited, unlike say a freed slave.

The other argument is simpler: some "libertarians" focus on the big bad government telling businesses and churches what to do but there is a flip side to this: why is it OK for business and religion to tell the state what to do by influencing policy? Especially when all they do is tell people what to do all the time and governments at least have the veneer of democracy. I suppose this is why I'm an anarchist but also why there should be no conflict between libertarianism and Marxism.

Conservatism and Leftism.
Short comment based I have to admit on my own observations, experiences and a re-reading of the Unabomber Manifesto. I think politics can be explained by dividing society/voters/activists into two broad philosophical camps: Leftist-Egoists and Conservative-Collectivists.
Leftists* (or liberals) will not support a platform consisting of 99 proposals they agree with if there is one proposal they strongly disagree with**; whereas Conservative-Collectivists will vote for UKIP or Donald Trump (or George Galloway) on the basis of the one key policy that outweighs all the other policies that would normally make a candidate unpalatable.

*As defined by Theodore Kaczynski "Industrial Society and its Future" aka The Unabomber Manifesto; specifically his comments on leftists and liberals
**See, for example, Murray Bookchin "The Ghost of Anarcho-syndicalism"