#infinitus

For Appreciate a Dragon Day (Probably way too late, but whatever), I decided on making a monster that was more Dragon than Monster in one of my works! Say hello to Infinitus' dragon form!

If the Autobots are proponents of democracy, why isn’t the position of Prime an elected one?

Dear Electoral Executive,

This is a rather broad question, given the variety of universes wherein a number of forms of government are practiced. However, I can in return give you a broad answer based upon your understanding of Cybertronian politics. 

Usually, Prime, meaning “Supreme Commander”, is a quasi-spiritual position. Either chosen by the Matrix or chosen by powerful elders to bear it, the Primal Lineage confers a certain legitimacy upon the decisions of both the Prime and any other political body they endorse, such as the various Senates. Now, within Cybertronian governments there is great variation on how much actual power the Prime has; Infinitus, AKA the Sentinel Prime of the Crest World, was merely a jumped-up security officer acting as a limb of the Senate.

During the war proper, as I believe is also common in your world, much of democracy fades away. There is a certain logic to this espoused by political scientists: during times of strife a single executive with immense powers can react much faster than a parliamentary body. The Prime then becomes more of a military leader than a political one, and can demand loyalty from his subordinates. Luckily, most iterations of Optimus Prime are well aware of the inherent contradiction of suppressing democracy so it may be restored, and Autobot armies led by him are usually far more democratic than their Decepticon foes. Ethics committees are often established to cast a self-restricting eye over the Autobot forces. In some universes there exists the Crisis Act: a snap no-confidence vote that can demand any leader be removed, all the way up to the Prime themselves.

Indeed, the truly difficult part of fighting for democracy is reinstating it at the end of the conflict. In order for an ongoing peace to be established, all belligerents must have a seat at the table, even if it means allowing one as vile as Starscream to run for public office. If the democratic transition goes poorly, it can be easily abused so as to create authoritarian governments robed in electoral legitimacy, as Cyclonus and his combiner partners once proved. In my experience, it is best that the transition goes carefully and in slow steps. While the post-Uprising Cybertronian Parliament’s delegates were not all democratically chosen, its rapid establishment of an egalitarian ruling body created the circumstances necessary for full democracy to return. Of course, said Parliament did not have a Prime at all! Perhaps the lesson to be gained from history is that we Primes should take a step back from politics, and focus our energies on more esoteric matters. Take Rodimus Prime, who left command of the Autobots to Fortress. He took to the stars with the Matrix in hand in search of a new way of life for all Cybertronians, and found it in the downsizing technology of Planet Micro, paving the way for a utopian technorganic future. This certainly brought about more good than his actions as a political leader.

Titan Force Sentinel Prime with Infinitus

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