dateline: 3211.040

First Minister Ashanti spoke to the Senate telling them that there was no way that Earth was going to move to a command economy, we had fought wars to avoid such a slide in the past, and former Grand Admiral Ashanti was not going to lead the Imperium into the camp of its enemies. First Minister Ashanti called for concerted action from the Senate and People of the Earth Imperium to defeat the new alien incursion and the threat to humanity. What is needed is to harness the power of capitalism and for corporations to collaborate rather than compete.

“The Earth Imperium exists to protect humanity's freedoms, we were forged in the Second Dark Age to protect the enlightened that had made it into space, and we proved ourselves capable of defending those left behind in the Razor Blade War. We lost our way a little towards the end of the 30th Century, but we set free some of the dissidents in acknowledgement that we existed so that humans can be free. This has not changed over the years since then, even the last war against the emerging Venerian Republic was fought only so that we could ensure that only those that wished firm central command went into its grip.”

“My time in office has been spent extending the umbrella of Imperium protection to those small and less fortunate systems that no-one else cares about. This is the true mission of the Imperium, protecting all those that want to live a free life. Free from the interference of the state, except to protect those unable to protect themselves. The coming of the second exterminator invasion gives us all a clear choice. Do we want to protect humanity and its freedoms, or do we want to be self-serving oligarchs?”

“I don't know about you, but I when joined the Navy back in 3138 it wasn't so that I could have an easy life. I joined up because I believed firmly in the ideals of the Imperium and in public service. I was willing to put my life on the line to protect those freedoms and our entire way of life. Even now I would gladly sacrifice myself if that would help to ensure that humanity remained free. Today I continue to serve the Imperium and I remember the words engraved on the front wall of the Naval Academy in Havana. 'The Imperium deserves hard service from all its citizens, and it expects most from those to whom most has been given.' Those words were spoken by First Citizen Abdullah da Silva when he visited the Academy in 2906.”

“The Imperium has given all of us here in the Senate the most that it can give any of its citizens. We have a responsibility to return that with interest. We need to ensure that the enemies of humanity's freedoms are destroyed utterly, whether they are human or alien. We need to ensure that the necessary protections are offered to those that cannot protect themselves, as well as to our own citizens, whether on Earth or in the colonies. It is up to us to protect Earth by protecting Humanity & all its freedoms.”

“The people of Earth live in comfort and luxury because the Empire exists, and because brave people have set out from Earth to build it; there is little expectation of hard service these days. Every human out there is a child of Earth, all of them, even those that call themselves Venerians, Martians, Esteelers, Xyonists, Wolfers, Centaurans and all the others. Every single one comes out Earth and we recognise that in our laws that allow any of them to claim citizenship if they desire. Without all those humans out there creating wealth and trading it back to us we would not have our home comforts and favourite luxuries. That trade is the lifeblood of our economy, we need to trade to live. Earth cannot feed its billions without trade. And as you all know, the cornerstone of that trade is the Navy, however the foundation is the people that leave Earth behind to build better futures for us all.”

“Our greatest export, our greatest asset, our greatest strength, our greatest achievement are the people that take the pilgrim's trail to the stars. Creating the freedom for pioneers to open up new systems, new colonies, new lives, new markets is what makes the Imperium great. We must not forget that, in our luxury and comfort, here on Earth.”

“I know that there is strong support for letting others take up the strain, for only protecting Earth's colonies in the outer quadrants. This seems like the easy option, and many cannot see any direct threat to Earth itself.”

“Such views are delusional.”

“This threat affects all of humanity, indeed our citizens have been the first to be killed. Doggie might seem a far flung outpost of empire to you, but it is a very real part of the economy that keeps us together. Governor Armstrong knows that, and he has been carefully corralling colonies in Quadrant 6 to work together for the common weal. In this hour of need we need to reinforce the outer quadrants and also enable them to take the war to the enemy bases in the outer sectors.”

“Earth needs to co-operate with all of the other human groups, from the smallest to the largest. We rely on them all for trade. It is inevitable that with the drawing of Navies to fight the new enemy that there will be detrimental impacts on trade. We need to step up our game and add to the proteciton of trade. To do that we need more resources for the Navy so that we can build more ships to protect trade and bring confidence to the colonies by flying the flag in all our systems. This cannot be at the expense of defeating the enemy, but we need to remember that the economy is built on confidence, and we cannot afford to lose that.”

“All the people in the universe need to pull together on this, but as the home of humanity it is earth's duty to lead. We have always been in the forefront, and that is one tradition that we need to uphold.”

“As a Senate it is up to us to ensure that the Imperium has the resources, the powers and the will to defeat our enemies. It is clear to me that we need to do something different this time round to ensure that this is the last incursion by the enemy on human space. We might need to take some more concerted action to ensure final victory. Some of those powers might need to be carefully limited to ensure that there is no loss of freedom as a result of this war against our persistent enemy. However I will leave it to the wisdom of the senate on what is required to win this war irrevocably. In the words of an ancient Senator in one of humanity's first republics, who was speaking about the return of a persistent enemy: 'Carthago Delenda Est!'”

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