twistedmentat posted:

The canon explanation is that following the finale defeat of the Empire at Jakku and the founding of the New Republic, they wanted to completely avoid doing anything the Empire did, as there was 30+ years of constant war between the Clone Wars and the Galactic Civil War and that poo poo did nothing good. But throwing out the bad stuff like slavery and autocractic dictator ship by an evil wizard, they also got rid of stuff like standing armies, a strong central government, and explicitly forbid any attempt to go after what was a decent sized Imperial Remnant.

They felt Operation Cinder had been stopped, and they had hosed off to the Unknown Regions, so the Empire was not a threat. Those that sought to continue to make sure the Empire was never a threat again were seen as warmongers, as most of them were veterans of the Civil War, and most of all, the revelation of Leia's parentage, any wide support was lost. Hell, some younger leaders were all "wasn't everything great when the Empire was in charge? It was safer, the economy was good, and those darn Wookies knew their place", obviously it turned out those leaders were actually being paid off and supported by the First Order.

Before TFA begins, no one really thought the First Order was anything remotely a threat. They're just some old guys and stupid kids wanting to play Empire, they're not a threat! That's why the resistance is like a handful of people.

The main difference between the rebels area and the TFA era is that before Yavin, no one thought they seriously stand up against the Empire. Small actions may be possible, but nothing grand, the Empire was too powerful. In TFA era, no one though the First Order was a real threat.