Ok, I think I'll jump back into this discussion after all. I won't be able to be as elaborate on this as I would have wanted, due to English only being my third language, but I'll try to do my best. First of all, I'm not going to condone the atrocities the Empire has committed, and even more so, to claim that the Empire wasn't "evil". Evil is a point of view, and history is written by victors. I previously compared the New Republic to the Communists in Russia, coming to power in 1917, and I'll elaborate on this. When the revolution happened, people supported the new government, because the opinion was that they represented the people, and as such were "people's government". The reality was that the new rulers would never stand a chance to make a political career under the Czar, and most of them were straight up criminals, murderers and terrorists. One of the first things they did was release millions of such people from prisons. The results of this transition of power were horrendous, as people quickly realised that everything only became worse. The civil war erupted between the remnants of the old regime ("The Whites") and the Red Army ("The Reds"), and was very destructive. Subsequently by the time the Second World War started, the Soviet Union was unprepared, and was easily invaded by Nazi Germany in 1941. They won the war, eventually, but with horrible losses, by basically just throwing bodies at the Germans. No side lost as many people in the war as the USSR.
Of course I realize that I might just be projecting something into Star Wars that isn't there, and was never meant to be. It is surely true that after all the Empire were just the bad guys in a trilogy of films, and Lucas never intended to give them any redeeming qualities whatsoever. Everything I say is just purely my own opinion, I don't insist on it, and I'm not trying to convince or sway anyone else to it.
However, as I see it, the NR were the ones constantly dragging the galaxy into war, their actions led to deaths of millions of innocents, and after their victory and subsequent rule the galaxy was unprepared against the Yuuzhan Vong, which led to even more suffering and death. It simply wouldn't happen under a much more militaristic Empire, which was also perfectly aware of this threat. The Yuuzhan Vong themselves admitted that it was beneficial to them that by the time of their arrival the Empire was no longer the dominant power in the galaxy. And Nom Anor focused most of his efforts against the remnants of the Empire, recognizing them as a much bigger threat to their plans. The YV were eventually defeated only with the help of the Imperial Remnant.
The NR consisted for the most part of political outsiders, who knew that their ambitions were futile under Imperial rule, with a lot of just straight up criminals, who's place was in prison. The usefulness of such government was proven to be very limited, and eventually the NR ceased to exist in favor of the Galactic Alliance (another flawed government, but that's beside the point). The fact that the rulers of the NR themselves decided that their political system doesn't work is in itself very telling.
As for the Empire, their regime was undoubtedly flawed as well. It was an oppressive government, to say the least. It would be horrible if such a state existed in the real world. But in a Star Wars galaxy? It was the only regime that managed to sustain peace for 19 years. And their fanatical militarism made even the Yuuzhan Vong wary. And under certain specific rulers. namely Thrawn and Pellaeon (with abolished xenophobia and equal rights to all citizens), the Empire is a better political regime than the NR any time, and I challenge anyone to argue with this. The Empire of the Hand is also a prime example of how to rule a portion of the galaxy, and although independant from the mainstream Empire, they were established with their authority and as part of their organization at first, and as such the doctrines of the New Order also deserve credit for its success, regardless of their eventual alteration (and improvement) by Thrawn.
And finally, allow me to quote wookiepeedia on what the New Order stands for: "The New Order arose as a result of the failures of the Galactic Republic (in particular the usage of "everyone is right" democracies), which was decentralized and often found ineffectual in resolving disputes between its more powerful members. The Empire was championed as a strong unifying solution to this problem. It criticized the perceived decadence and weakness of the Republic, and advocated an authoritarian and militaristic social and political culture. It promised to trade frailty for strength, chaos for order, and uncertainty for decisiveness. As such, they also made sure that there was no question whatsoever as to who was in charge, in order to ensure that there was no grandstanding careerism among senators.".
All I'm saying, after all, is that the Empire and the Rebels/NR are the two sides of the same coin, and both have their fair share of flaws and indecent people, and none are "perfect", if such thing even exists. I do think, however, that the Empire was more qualified to rule the galaxy, and maintained order and stability better that the NR ever could. The NR were much more attractive on the outside, but I would never trust the sincerity of their claims and actions. If real-life politics are anything to go by, and if the politics of Star Wars were indeed modeled and based on the real world, it means that the main reason was always personal and selfish gain first and foremost, so I don't think we should get disillusioned here. The Empire, if anything, was much more obviously evil and didn't hide anything, were more or less sincere in what they did and promised for the galaxy. And I somehow think if they did win the GCW let's say at the Battle of Yavin, the galaxy would benefit from it much more. The Death Star and the Imperial Navy would remain the custodians of peace for many years to come, and the Yuuzhan Vong, the Ssi-Ruuvi, or any other threat would be dealt with quickly and without the loss of so many lives of innocents.
P.S.: But the bottom line, for me, is that I don't really view myself as a good guy, so it's easier for me to identify myself with the Empire, lol. So it's all subjective, rather than objective, I guess. At least I will not object if anyone says so. But it's not so obviously black and white or good and bad, it's much more complicated, in my opinion.