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Emergency Powers What's the deal?

#1 User is offline   Jordan Icon

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Posted 04 August 2004 - 02:57 AM

Palpatine was granted emergency powers to help counter the separetists attack.

Why?

Why couldn't the Senate just pass a vote to construct an army?

Everybody was in agreement to grant emergency powers right? Why couldn't they do the same to raise an army?

The Senate obviously knew about the threat, they knew some action needed to be taken. Why give all the power to one guy?

Am I mislead here?

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This post has been edited by Jordan: 04 August 2004 - 02:59 AM

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#2 User is offline   barend Icon

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Posted 04 August 2004 - 03:02 AM

people don't like to think for themselves...

given the option to let one person take care of all the descisions, 99% of people will pick it. especially polliticians who are only there for the pay and other percs affiliated with the job.
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#3 User is offline   Helena Icon

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Posted 04 August 2004 - 05:21 AM

Good question. Better question: Why the hell didn't they have an army to start with?
QUOTE
The sandpeople had women and children. We know this because Anakin killed them how could he tell? The children might be smaller but I never saw a sandperson with breasts. Did they hike their skirts and show him some leg or something?

QUOTE
Also, I can see the point of wanting to kidnap a human and use her as a slave, but they didn't. They tied her to a flimsy easel for a month. It's assumed they had to feed and give her water. What for? Was she purely ornamental? I can understand them wanting the droids, you can sell those for a lot of money, but a chick who's only skills are finding non-existand mushrooms and getting randomly pregnant, you're not going to get much.

- J m HofMarN on the Sand People
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Posted 04 August 2004 - 05:55 AM

Mostly as the rublicl was decaying and had become soft in it's old age.
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Posted 04 August 2004 - 07:54 AM

Yeah, what "emergency" was there!? One Senator gets attacked out of a bajagillion and it's an "emergency." Damn, if it was a real emergency, there'd be constant attacking!!!

And it is silly that the republic had no mutual army. I mean, this could've been made clear(er) in the films. If anything, the attack of the Trade Federation on Naboo in the first film should've been enough of an example and a reason to create an army---this should've been the issue, not the one of Palpatine being voted into power!

Sheesh. Such a waste of screen time.
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Posted 04 August 2004 - 10:01 AM

Whats strange is that in Knights of the Old Republic, they did have an army. I wonder what happend to it?
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#7 User is offline   Esco Icon

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Posted 04 August 2004 - 10:05 AM

QUOTE (Helena @ Aug 4 2004, 05:21 AM)
Good question. Better question: Why the hell didn't they have an army to start with?

I think Lucas' explanation would be that the Jedi were the peace keepers of the republic...but lets think about it for a second.
If Jedi were there to protect them, then there should have been thousands of them all over the place. If the republic is huge, then the number of Jedi number should have been just as large. Thats not whats portrayed in ATOC.
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Posted 04 August 2004 - 10:10 AM

But the Jedi specifically said that they couldn't act as an army for the Republic - not by themselves, at least. Even in KOTOR this was a problem. I think it's best to apply the default explanation: Lucas is a moron who never actually gave this any thought.
QUOTE
The sandpeople had women and children. We know this because Anakin killed them how could he tell? The children might be smaller but I never saw a sandperson with breasts. Did they hike their skirts and show him some leg or something?

QUOTE
Also, I can see the point of wanting to kidnap a human and use her as a slave, but they didn't. They tied her to a flimsy easel for a month. It's assumed they had to feed and give her water. What for? Was she purely ornamental? I can understand them wanting the droids, you can sell those for a lot of money, but a chick who's only skills are finding non-existand mushrooms and getting randomly pregnant, you're not going to get much.

- J m HofMarN on the Sand People
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#9 User is offline   Rory Icon

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Posted 04 August 2004 - 10:22 AM

I think they didn't have an army because they didn't need one. There was no outside threat to the Republic; it pretty much constituted almost ever star system worth talking about. So, while the equivalent of police, or emergency relief was necessary, a standing military was not. So, generally, if some pirates start acting up, the local police forces can take care of it. If the problem gets tough, you can send in some jedi to mop the place up.

Also, I think the emergency powers thing makes sense in the context of an actual conflict or war. In war its important to have someone who can make the tough decisions quickly. If you have to have an assembly to decide every tough decision, nothing will ever get done.
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#10 User is offline   Helena Icon

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Posted 04 August 2004 - 12:02 PM

QUOTE (Rory @ Aug 4 2004, 04:22 PM)
I think they didn't have an army because they didn't need one. There was no outside threat to the Republic; it pretty much constituted almost ever star system worth talking about. So, while the equivalent of police, or emergency relief was necessary, a standing military was not. So, generally, if some pirates start acting up, the local police forces can take care of it. If the problem gets tough, you can send in some jedi to mop the place up.

That's no excuse. A threat could have come from outside the galaxy - or, as we saw, from within. Frankly, if the Republic had so little regard for its own protection then it deserved to fall.
QUOTE
The sandpeople had women and children. We know this because Anakin killed them how could he tell? The children might be smaller but I never saw a sandperson with breasts. Did they hike their skirts and show him some leg or something?

QUOTE
Also, I can see the point of wanting to kidnap a human and use her as a slave, but they didn't. They tied her to a flimsy easel for a month. It's assumed they had to feed and give her water. What for? Was she purely ornamental? I can understand them wanting the droids, you can sell those for a lot of money, but a chick who's only skills are finding non-existand mushrooms and getting randomly pregnant, you're not going to get much.

- J m HofMarN on the Sand People
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Posted 04 August 2004 - 02:09 PM

I had always interpreted the Republic as Lucas' representation of the United Nations: a governing body with no real military power to speak of.

Add to that a dictator who is given the power to go outside the rule of the Republic (that's basically what emergency powers are), and you have a not-so-subtle commentary on global politics.

I'm not pro- or anti-Bush, but it seems there is definitely a comparison to be drawn there.

Now the real question is, who is our political Anakin Skywalker?

My money's on Tom Ridge!

I want to say Rumsfeld, but I think he's closer to Darth Maul or Tyrannus.

(Mr. Rumsfeld, stay away from open shafts, the Sith have a tendency to go that way)
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#12 User is offline   Helena Icon

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Posted 04 August 2004 - 04:09 PM

But in most ways the Republic is more like the US the UN; as the name 'Republic' implies, it's a unified entity. It has an elected Chancellor, a Senate and a Supreme Court. It has the power to enforce its own laws (as we see with all the Trade Federation palaver), and you can't secede from it (for whatever reason). It should have its own army.
QUOTE
The sandpeople had women and children. We know this because Anakin killed them how could he tell? The children might be smaller but I never saw a sandperson with breasts. Did they hike their skirts and show him some leg or something?

QUOTE
Also, I can see the point of wanting to kidnap a human and use her as a slave, but they didn't. They tied her to a flimsy easel for a month. It's assumed they had to feed and give her water. What for? Was she purely ornamental? I can understand them wanting the droids, you can sell those for a lot of money, but a chick who's only skills are finding non-existand mushrooms and getting randomly pregnant, you're not going to get much.

- J m HofMarN on the Sand People
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#13 User is offline   Rory Icon

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Posted 05 August 2004 - 12:52 PM

QUOTE
That's no excuse. A threat could have come from outside the galaxy - or, as we saw, from within. Frankly, if the Republic had so little regard for its own protection then it deserved to fall.


Well, considering how astronomically far galaxies are from each other, a threat outside the galaxy probably seems a little out there... Literally!

And a threat from within... well, the people of the Republic probably thought some local police forces could handle anything like that. Or maybe they had a draft system, or something like that. Or maybe they used to have an army, but after hundreds (maybe even thousands) of years of peace, it just sort of fell out of service.

As an analogy, imagine you are a guy. You used to get into a lot of fights, but for the last 20 years or so, you've lived a peaceful life and your not in the best of shape anymore. It doesnt really seem necessary. Then, suddenly, some other guy picks a fight with you! So, of course, you arent very good at defending yourself, and get beat up. Thats what it was like for the Republic!
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#14 User is offline   Helena Icon

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Posted 05 August 2004 - 02:44 PM

There could still be things outside of the galaxy, or on the edges, that they weren't aware of - it's clear from what we see of Tatooine that the Republic doesn't really have much influence in the Outer Rim. And as for the local police being able to handle most things, that's true for most states today, but they the army is still kept on standby in case of a widespread breakdown of law and order. I still think it's stupid that the Republic doesn't have it's own army, especially since there had been plenty of wars in the past (at least according to KOTOR and other EU stuff).
QUOTE
The sandpeople had women and children. We know this because Anakin killed them how could he tell? The children might be smaller but I never saw a sandperson with breasts. Did they hike their skirts and show him some leg or something?

QUOTE
Also, I can see the point of wanting to kidnap a human and use her as a slave, but they didn't. They tied her to a flimsy easel for a month. It's assumed they had to feed and give her water. What for? Was she purely ornamental? I can understand them wanting the droids, you can sell those for a lot of money, but a chick who's only skills are finding non-existand mushrooms and getting randomly pregnant, you're not going to get much.

- J m HofMarN on the Sand People
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#15 User is offline   Just your average movie goer Icon

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Posted 05 August 2004 - 07:10 PM

Ah, time to put my 50 WON's worth in on this one -

The Republic should have had its own standing army, not because of constant warfare and attacks from outside - but as a contingency for all eventualities.

Okay, carry on.
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