Star Trek: The Next Generation/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions
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, 8 years ago→We're an enlightened government! Just don't ask for specifics.
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* Exactly what kind of government does the Federation have in Star Trek? The highest ranking civilians we tend to see are diplomats. Alpha Wiki and the Other Wiki mention a democratic government but in any of the shows have we ever heard about elections, political parties, candidates, legislative bodies or anything else that might suggest representative government?
** Rarely enough. We meet several UFP presidents, but whether or not there are parties is never revealed. Jaresh-Enyo was the UFP President on [[DS 9]] and we are later told that he left office, but not whether it was through resignation or being voted out. The often-mentioned Federation council is seen a few times (like in Star Trek IV) but its composition is never quite explained. Part of the confusion seems to be that the writers vacillate between the Federation being modeled on the UN and on a modern nation-state, especially the USA (the fact that Jaresh-Inyo can place Earth itself under martial law suggests that Earth's relationship to the Federation may be more analogous to Washington D.C.'s to the USA than the USA's to the UN, for example).
** The EU shows us an election but there's no mention of parties. Apparently the writers were going for an idealized view of "You don't need parties! Just judge each candidate on their own merits!" Which is all well and good... but it's only authorial fiat that means the race still winds up between just two people. In reality, hundreds, if not thousands, if not potentially ''millions'' of people would run for President of the Federation, and there would be no effective way for any two or even a small handful to make themselves distinct enough for a proper runoff. So either the Presidency of the Federation has a ridiculously stringent set of qualifications about who's allowed to run to make sure that only one in ten billion people is qualified, or it's just another example of the fact that the Federation [[Mary Suetopia|only works because the writers say it does]].
== The Borg have assimilated hundreds of races! You just never see any of them! ==
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