Time to Build an Empire
To realize Linus’s dream of nothing less than Total World Domination, we’re going to need an Empire, not a Republic.
Monday, August 15th, 2005
“The war is over. The Separatists have been defeated, and the Jedi rebellion has been foiled. We stand on the threshold of a new beginning. In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society, which I assure you will last for ten thousand years. An empire that will continue to be ruled by this august body, and a sovereign ruler chosen for life… An empire ruled by the majority… ruled by a new constitution…”
Those are the words that this summer’s favorite bad guy, Senator Palpatine, a.k.a Darth Sidious, utters in the Galactic Senate on Planet Couroscant shortly after issuing “Order 66,” in which all of the Jedi Knights, the defenders of democracy and freedom throughout the galaxy, were murdered in cold blood. Palpatine’s words simultaneously shatter the Republic and birth an Empire.
Chilling, yes? But if you’ve been watching your History Channel, you’ll remember that ancient Rome, a civilization which lasted for nearly a thousand years, was for a short period a fractured republic and only grew stronger and more stable when it became an empire, and was responsible for adding more art and culture and infrastructure to the known world than any other in history. So maybe what Ole Sid has in store for the former Republic isn’t such a bad idea.
