Imperialism is older than most people realize. Back when Rome was an irrelevant Mediterranean monarchy, there was the Assyrian empire, and later, the Babylonian empire. Assyria tore its way though modern-day Egypt up to Turkey, creating the economic and political blueprint for empire in the process. To an imperial power, nothing is scared, because nothing can be—contrary to the propaganda that empire generates, imperialism is not about safety, or glory, or god, but about economic necessity. Once an empire can no longer conquer and extract, the system collapses—just as it did in Assyria. This necessity demands brutality; for Assyria, punishing tribute payments, slavery, and mass expulsions kept conquered territories under control. (This strategy would later be copied by the Babylonians when Nebuchadnezzar II captured Judah, cementing Babylon's place in the Hebrew bible)
Verhoeven's depiction of imperialism (and by extension, colonialism and fascism) is uniquely lucid in the realm of 20th century sci-fi cinema, and it's further aided by Philip K. Dick's paranoia about a collapsing sense of reality and personality under authoritarianism. Total Recall's vision of colonialism's future is as natural and logical as it is violent and absurd; if the past demonstrates that human life and freedom are doomed to fall under the sword—then so too shall memory also fall. After all, to empire, nothing is sacred.