In EU, I believe it went with how each system/sector had its own militarised "police" for local issues. Anything bigger and the various systems were supposed to co-operate and offer up elements of their system forces to combine together under Republic control.
By the time of the Phantom Menace and such, the Republics bureaucracy was just bloated and all the cracks were appearing and systems weren't being as cooperative.
On other funny things:
It's pretty standard imperial fare throughout history regardless of political type. Rome, China (both Imperial and Communist), Mongol, Russia, Persia, Spain, etc.
Hey, I'm English. My understanding is fixed on tea not coffee.
Although mostly only my American friends who are women really talk about pumpkin spice and their love of it. The guys I know mostly reference it with memes over September - November.