User:Lord Hydronium/Workbench

The Military Creation Act was a bill proposed in the Galactic Senate during the Separatist Crisis, in the years leading up to the Clone Wars.

Description
The Military Creation Act authorized the formation of an Army of the Republic. Chancellor Palpatine did not reveal the articles of the Act or the scope of the vote beforehand, but had it been put to a vote, it would likely have been a yes/no matter on the issue. If then passed by the Galactic Senate, a commission of Senators would need to be established to determine resource allocation for the Republic's new military. Certain sector and planetary forces would be chosen to contribute to the Army, though which they would be was a matter for further discussion. Military academies on worlds such as Carida, Raithal, and Corulag would serve to train the soldiers, and the Jedi were proposed by some as leaders of the eventual army.

Galactic change
At the time of the Separatist Crisis, the Republic had enjoyed peace for a thousand years, with planetary security and sector forces, Judicial Forces, and the Jedi Order serving as its peacekeepers. The Stark Hyperspace War of 44 BBY, however, had led some to conclude that these peacekeeping forces were merely a stop-gap solution and a more unified military, led from Coruscant, was needed. In 24 BBY, former Jedi Count Dooku reappeared on the galactic stage, decrying the Republic's corruption and preaching separatism. Dooku formed a new, secessionist government, the Confederacy of Independent Systems, and thousands of planets began to rally to him. Rumors of a Military Creation Act began to circulate before the Act was announced, but Supreme Chancellor Palpatine refused to come out in favor of an army. That year, the official Military Creation Act was at last proposed in response to the Separatist threat, allowing for the creation of an Army of the Republic to counter Separatist threats.

However, this would not be resolved soon. Two years of bureaucratic stalemate began, with the Act going nowhere as more worlds joined the Separatist cause. 22 BBY arrived with no solution to the deadlock; meanwhile, the issue itself pushed away other worlds, including Ando, which was insulted by the Republic's own plan to militarize after their forced demilitarization of that world. On 13:3:6, Chancellor Palpatine at last announced, in an address on the HoloNet, a vote date for the Act: 5:16, two months later. This gap would give time for Senators to return to Coruscant, as well as poll their constituencies. Both support and opposition forces to the Act were relieved to see an end to the stalemate, though both cautioned the consequences of a wrong vote; Senator Tikkes was concerned of the time that additional discussions would take. Despite being publicly against the Act, Palpatine made no partisan comments during his announcement. In response to the announcement, the 575 employees of Chandrila's Public Safety Commission staged a walk-out in protest.

The great debate
Seven days after Palpatine's announcement, following a week of closed-door discussions between Corellian Senator Garm Bel Iblis and Diktat Shyla Merricope, Corellia surprised the Republic by announcing that it was invoking its right of Contemplanys Hermi and closing its borders. Withdrawing his vote on the Act, Bel Iblis announced that it was a threat to Corellia's sovereignty, and Corellia would not be party to it. Merricope concurred, declaring that Corellians would not be drafted to fight the Republic's wars, nor would they allow the Republic's soldiers to be placed in their homes. The next day, HoloNet News published a "Point/Counterpoint" article on the Act, with Judicial Terrinald Screed endorsing it and Caamasi Senator Eeshrin Ot'Hyne arguing for the opposition.

Some still continued to push for peace. Chancellor Palpatine made a 12-minute public address on the HoloNet—overriding almost every channel and feed—to the secretive Count Dooku, asking for a parley so the two could come to a peaceful solution. Senator Onaconda Farr of Rodia criticized Palpatine for the move, believing it to be a cowardly attempt to stop the Act. On 3:20, Senator Horox Ryyder of Gravlex Med, one of those who had campaigned against the Act, retired. His successors Zo Howler and Fo Kuna promised to continue his work opposing it. Palpatine received further criticism from some in the Senate when he revealed the members of the Republic's new Loyalist Committee&mdash;an advisory body for dealing with the Separatist Crisis&mdash;on 3:28. Though the committee consisted of Senators on both sides of the Military Creation Act debate, many Senators believed that Palpatine was forming a partisan body to affect the impending vote, with Farr again claiming that the Chancellor was trying to subvert it by gathering his allies.

Campaigning
As the final month before the vote began, the debate continued. On Chandrila the Legislative Youth Program held a mock vote on the Act, using a conjectural version of its as-yet-unknown articles. Presided over by Junior Chancellor Kennis Radi, the mock Senate session included Needo Farr of Rodia in the support and Dashé Borreno of Naboo in the opposition; many delegates could not attend, some because their homes had seceded, some due to fears of travel in the current situation, and in the case of Trevor Insevade of Alderaan, due to illness. The Act passed with a margin of 52-48 percent; Borreno believed that Insevade could have turned the vote had he been present. Rumors that Palpatine was dealing with health problems, and would take a vacation before the vote, were meanwhile denied by his aide Sate Pestage.

On 4:18, the government of Carida, home to the longstanding Academy of Carida, joined the campaigning for the Act, donating billions of credits towards regional campaigning efforts and offering the Academy for Republic use in training its new army, if the Act passed. Ambassador Golfhan of Carida vowed to continue the military traditions of the Republic that had given rise to the Academy. The move was met with praise by some, including Terrinald Screed, but others like Senator Padmé Amidala of Naboo&mdash;campaigning against the Act in her native Chommell sector at the time&mdash;saw it as a bid solely to promote the interests of the Academy.

Senator Farr, meanwhile, aided in his side of the campaigning by bankrolling and writing the story of a play that was also a political message: The Trickery of Vosdia Nooma, produced by the Rodian government's Drama Council. Laden with allegory and symbolism, the play promoted Farr's pro-military positions and a pro-Military Creation Act stance in particular. Farr himself had a cameo in the play, though drama editor Korvit Domesa of HoloNet News, who reviewed the play, believed this was a mistake that could hurt his platform; Domesa nonetheless thought that the production would inspire discussion on both sides of the debate. But all interactions were not peaceful; in the weeks leading up to the vote, the number of vocal opponents and supporters rose outside the Senate Rotunda on Coruscant. Approximately 7,000 activists gathered around the building, most in protest; a number of isolated fights broke out between them and the smaller&mdash;but still vocal&mdash;group of pro-Act demonstrators. On 5:9 the Senate Guard attempted to relocate the crowds. When the protesters pushed back, violence broke out, and the guards fired stun blasts into the crowd. Thirty-eight individuals were arrested, many of them students from the University of Coruscant, and four activists and two guards had to be rushed to the hospital.

As the vote neared, Senators and representatives began their final tallies of the consensus of their constituents. The Mid Rim in particular filled with campaigning as every sector tried to make its voice heard. Though each Senate vote was decided by the local custom of the sector, most used some sort of referendum to hear the will of their constituency. Senator Amidala continued her efforts against the Act in the Chommell sector, while Senator Yudrish Sedran of Chalacta came out against it as well after consulting with the Chalactan Temple of Illumination, a decision that was supported by Chalactan Jedi Depa Billaba and Sar Labooda. Meanwhile, Senator Jollin Resbin of Sneeve, a supporter of the Act, gained the endorsement of retired podracing champion Boles Roor, who not only appeared in advertisements for Resbin, but even came out of retirement to participate in a series charity races around the Mid Rim to spread the Senator's message. However, political analysts agreed that it would ultimately be the say of the Core Worlds that decided the vote. With seven days left until the vote, many Senators began returning to Coruscant.

Controversy
Senate and public opinion were deeply divided over the issue of the Military Creation Act. In a HoloNet News poll on the Act, the day after Palpatine's scheduling of the vote, the results were 70% in favor and 30% opposed. Endorsements came out for both sides, from the public appearances of celebrity podracer Boles Roor for the Act to the quieter opposition of Jedi Depa Bilaba and Sar Labooda. Advocates of both sides could be extremely vocal, and violence was known to occur between them, with large-scale rioting on the verge of breaking out on Coruscant.

Support
Those who supported the Act, like Republic Judicial Terrinald Screed, believed that the scope of war had gone beyond that which the extant Republic peacekeeping forces, such as sector security or the Jedi, were capable of handling. They pointed to the inefficiences of the Stark Hyperspace War as an example of the necessity of a unified military. With sectors and worlds seceding, local forces could not be indefinitely relied on to support the Republic, and private armies, many consisting of droids that were both cheap and numerous, were more common. If the Separatist forces were to consolidate an army, an army would be needed to oppose them; the victory of the Gungans over the Trade Federation in the Invasion of Naboo ten years prior was pointed to as an example of the value of keeping a standing military in peacetime. Screed also saw support of the Act as a matter of loyalty, and along with Ambassador Golfhan of Carida, whose government donated billions of credits towards campaigning efforts for the Act, appealed to the military tradition of the Republic as a source of pride.

Some Senators, like Onaconda Farr, thought war was inevitable; Senator Aks Moe of Malastare believed the lack of an army gave the Separatists time to conspire against the Republic, and Senator Tikkes worried that at the rates of secession there would be no worlds left in the Republic by the time it got an army. Other supporters included Jollin Resbin of Sneeve.

Opposition
A wide variety of arguments existed against the Act. Some, like Senator Tendau Bendon of Ithor, argued that authorizing a military would provoke the Separatists into war. Caamasi Senator Eeshrin Ot'Hyne took this view as well, arguing that the pro-army stance was rooted in fear and that rather than being a solution to that fear, a military would only increase violence, a cycle that he said occurred many times throughout the Republic's history. Ot'Hyne beseached the Republic to address the causes that would lead to a war, saying this would prevent war itself.

Pragmatic arguments existed as well. Chandrilans working in public safety, like Ocandra Leeds, argued that taxes reserved for local forces would have to be transferred to the Republic, depersonalizing the services they offered. The Aqualish of Ando saw it as an insult, as the Republic had many times before ordered them to demilitarize. Ot'Hyne suggested that the military funds would be better spent on the Diplomatic Corps and Refugee Relief Movement, and he declared that commercial interests wanted to capitalize on the conflict for their own ends. Senator Garm Bel Iblis of Corellia, meanwhile, argued that the costs of the Army would be great, and would all come from Republic taxpayers; planetary security forces, he stated, had worked and would continue to work, and worlds like his own would not want to pay for both an Army of the Republic and their own forces. Bel Iblis also believed that the Act threatened Corellia's sovereignty, and the Diktat of Corellia did not wish for Corellians to fight and die for the Republic, far from their home planet, nor for soldiers to be billeted in Corellian homes.

While the pro-Act movement had several large special interests providing funding, the opposition did not have any donors nearly as sizeable. In the final month before the vote, a number of students from the University of Coruscant protested the Act in front of the Senate Rotunda. Other opponents included Horox Ryyder, Zo Howler, and Fo Kuna of Gravlex Med, Yudrish Sedran of Chalacta, and Padmé Amidala of Naboo, a particularly vocal opponent who, despite having campaigned against the Act since its announcement, nonetheless left her vote to the choice of her constituency. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine himself publicly stated he opposed the Act, though in several announcements he remained nonpartisan on the issue; some Senators, however, believed many of his political actions were attempts to undermine it.

Behind the scenes
Created as a major element for the plot of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the Military Creation Act was introduced in HoloNet News, a regular online feature preceding the release of Attack of the Clones. The Act, and the circumstances surrounding it, formed a running narrative throughout HoloNet News up until the movie's release.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of Darth Vader
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones / novel / comic / junior novel
 * Republic Commando: True Colors
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones / novel / comic / junior novel
 * Republic Commando: True Colors
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones / novel / comic / junior novel
 * Republic Commando: True Colors
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones / novel / comic / junior novel
 * Republic Commando: True Colors
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * Republic Commando: True Colors
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader
 * Republic Commando: True Colors
 * Labyrinth of Evil
 * Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader