After recently viewing the second season of The Bad Batch, I was reminded again of how people seem to undervalue the importance-and symbolism-of the politics of the time that the Senate displayed.
First, the fall of the Republic. The Senate, as seen in Episode I, had become inefficient. A bunch of rich, dim-witted people clogging up both galactic politics and the efforts of the righteous. They couldn't even agree to help a planet that had been invaded, to the point where Queen Amidala had to contact the Gungans, the Naboo people's worst enemy. The Senate displays the failures of the Republic.
Second, the rise of the Empire. Going over to The Bad Batch, we see Riyo Chuchi arguing for the rights of the clones. And one senator in particular during this scene annoyed me: the old, senile-sounding green one (whose name I do not know) who blatantly said that the clones should be 'decomissioned.' And I sided with Riyo on this one. Any decent person should. But the fact that a sizeable amount of senators seem to be indesisive or downright against giving the clones pensions or any kind of reward for their service show how uncaring and inhumane the Senate had become. It was depressing. Then we see the Andor show. At this point, the Senate is a literal joke. Anyone who dares question the Empire is laughed and/or downright hated. The Empire (as indicated by the Senate) had become a giant political battlefield where moffs, admirals, senators, and other rich and high-ranking lowlifes try to get more powerful. No wonder the Empire collapsed so quickly.
