Okay, so in last night's episode, it was revealed that Miles Matheson, the brother to the main protagonist's father, supporting good guy, and all around kickass swordsman, was also the former commanding general of the Monroe Republic's militia and founding father of said republic, being second only to Sebastian Monroe himself. During the episode, we were also treated to flashbacks to the early days of the post-event world as Miles and Sebastian took off on a cross-country trek. Along the way they came across evidence of the quickly deprivation of people in the form of a man and woman murdered in a tent. They later come to the rescue of a man being beaten and robbed by two men. Despite one of them claiming that they were only looking for food, Miles shot both of them because he assumed that they were the ones who murdered the couple. Sebastian tries to talk him down, but Miles points out an obvious truth that law and order has collapsed. There's no police to arrest them, no jails to hold them in, and no courts to try them for their crimes. In their absence, anarchy reigns and unfortunately the weak and helpless are being preyed on.
Now, what I think happened is that Miles or Sebastian realized that things were going to get better, that the power might never come back on and in the meantime, everything would keep going to hell in a handbasket unless someone did something. Thus, the Monroe Republic was born. I'm assuming that Sebastian must have come up with the idea, seeing as how it was named after him. In any case, my theory is that the Republic was meant to be benevolent. It was supposed to be a way to provide security for people, restore law and order, and try to reorganize civilization after it had fallen apart. The militia was intended to protect the borders and settlements from bandits and outside factions, and act as a police force, unless there was one.
Maybe that still is the intent of the Republic. Sebastian and Miles had different ideas on how to do things. Maybe the latter wanted a more democratic system, but the latter felt that a strong hand was needed. That if the militia needed to be sent to deal with a troublesome village - harshly, if need be - then so be it, as long as it was for the greater good. Sort of a "needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one." philosophy. The ban on civilians owning firearms (a crime punishable by death) could have been seen as a necessity to lessen the threat of both bandits and revolts, as well as just conserving a finite resource - ammunition - so that it would be available for the militia in the event of a major emergency, like an invasion by a rival faction. It was mentioned in No Quarter that modern bullets are rare because they can no longer be made. The death penalty for owning a gun, while harsh, may have been seen as another necessity to give the ban some teeth.
As to what made Miles abandon the Republic and his friend, perhaps he became disillusioned with the whole thing or didn't approve of Sebastian's ambition. The latter is currently salvaging military vehicles and aircraft while trying to find a way to restore the flow of electricity with the purpose of either solidifying his hold on his republic's territory or even expanding it. Again, he might see this as being for the greater good. Hell, maybe there was a rebellion of some kind to Sebastian's rule and he had it crushed as brutally as possible and Miles quit in disgust. Certainly, the reputation of both men, the militia and the Monroe Republic bears out that something bad happened that people's opinions of them all.
We all know what the road to Hell is paved with and Sebastian Monroe and Miles Matheson's republic may be living proof of that.
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