I know, the prologue made it rather hard to go Imperial, but once in the game politics we not so sure.. We cannot blame the Stormcloaks for being a little bit miffed at outsiders or racist towards elves. Skyrim is their ancestral homeland and the Nords having to deal with an outside influence trying to ban the worship of one of their own native sons and greatest heroes for the sake of appeasing another group of foreigners. won't take sides. my previous character sided with the Stormcloaks. Personally, I despise Mede Empire and the crappy White-Gold Concordat. The Empire we knew died with the Remans/Septims,
Each has their own fault.
Stormcloaks are clearly more powerful in terms of Skyrim politics over the Imperials as the Empire has gone to $hit since Oblivion. They are likw the Germanic people who fought the Romans 2000 years ago. The Stormcloaks would make better rulers in terms of a more stable government, but they are extremely provocative. Only Nords would get fair treatment which is not right. The Thalmor does not want either side to win. The elves want the civil war to continue until both sides are weakened, and then swoop down on both, creating an Ayleid-ish Empire. So the Thalmor are puppeteering both sides.
The Empire became puppets of the Thalmor which seek to return Tamriel to the days of Ayleid rule when they enslaved Men. Thalmor is strong n my opinion and an Empire that is so weak that they just accept the terms of these devious elves is no Empire I like. If the Empire still had a strong Emperor in place and refused to the Thalmor in Skyrim. And the Imperials tried to execute you in the beginning with no fair trial which is a dick move in my opinion. The end result is still the same douchebag guards who arrest you when there is a bounty.