We Must Move Quickly
In Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine and Mace Windu are frequently framed as foils to one another. Both believe that they must take control of the Republic to ensure peace after the end of the Clone Wars, and both argue that the execution of an unarmed prisoner is justified when he is "too dangerous to be kept alive." There is another phrase that comes out of both characters' mouths: in moments of crisis, both tell Anakin Skywalker that "we must move quickly" to avert a feared outcome.
When Anakin reveals to Windu that Chancellor Palpatine is a Sith Lord, the Jedi Master replies, "Then our worst fears have been realized. We must move quickly if the Jedi Order is to survive." He then immediately takes a team of Jedi to the Senate building, attempting to arrest the Chancellor by force.
The attempt proves unsuccessful; Anakin turns against Windu, allowing Palpatine to kill him, and then pledges his allegiance to the Sith, becoming Darth Vader. At this point, Palpatine echoes Windu's words, telling his new apprentice, "We must move quickly. The Jedi are relentless. If they are not all destroyed, it will be civil war without end."
In both cases, it seems like quick action is urgently required and there is no time for deliberation. Palpatine frequently uses this strategy to manipulate his pawns and opponents: he engineers situations in which survival is at stake (or seems to be at stake), creating anxiety that overrides reflective thought and drives people to react out of fear. By moving quickly without consulting wise allies like Obi-Wan Kenobi or Yoda, Windu forces the issue, ultimately making a unilateral decision to execute the unarmed Chancellor and pushing Anakin towards the dark side with his hypocrisy.
Palpatine, for his part, is not really acting thoughtlessly; he is enacting a plan that he has been developing for years. However, he tells Anakin that they "must move quickly" because if Anakin had more time to deliberate, he might have second thoughts about exterminating his former friends and allies. Anakin is already disposed towards this way of thinking (or not thinking). Earlier in the film, when the Senate votes more executive powers to the Chancellor, he says to Obi-Wan, "That can only mean less deliberating and more action. Is that bad? It will make it easier for us to end this war."
The more people act without deliberation, the more power Palpatine gains over them.
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Characters: Anakin Skywalker / Mace Windu / Palpatine
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Concepts: fear
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