Sorry it took so long to reply; that damn pesky 'real life' keeps getting in the way…

We could keep going back and forth siting counter examples, you sited several excellent ones, but I agree for the most part. The Federation does try to take the high road, but is not always able to do so was my point & when not able to do so, Starfleet is quite the military organization.

As for the Federation's distaste when it comes to proportional
military response, it is consistantly present in the series. It shows
up for the first time in "Arena," where the Gorn destroy a Federation
outpost and Kirk decides over the course of the episode of forego
retaliation in favor of settling the root grievance diplomatically.
There must be dozens of episodes of TNG where Federation citizens are
killed and the Federation responds by trying to communicate rather
than counter-attack — "The Vengeance Factor", "Ensign Ro", "Silicon
Avatar" and "I, Borg" are only a few examples. On DS9, the Dominion
destroy several Federation starships in the years leading up to the
Dominion War, destroy all of the Alpha Quadrant powers' outposts in
the Gamma Quadrant in "The Jem'Hadar", bomb a Federation conference on
Earth in "Homefront", wipe out the Maquis who are formerly Federation
citizens in "Blaze of Glory" and destroy several starships in
Federation space before the Dominion War, according to "In the Cards."
The Federation doesn't strike back until all hopes of a diplomatic
solution evaporate.

You mentioned the relationship with the Cardassians in TNG as a
counter-example. While it isn't naive, the Federation certainly isn't
hawkish. The Cardassians rearmed their border in "The Wounded" and
the Federation helped them capture the only Starfleet captain willing
to use force to stop them. The Cardassians destroyed a Federation
outpost posing as Bajorans in "Ensign Ro" and the Federation did not
respond militarily. The Cardassians then sent an invasion fleet to
seize a Federation sector in "Chain of Command" and the Federation let
them off with a slap on the wrist and signed a new treaty with them
the next year in "Journey's End." The Federation definitely takes the
high road, even when blood has been spilled.

I would love to live in a world where there is no want & everyone was taken care of. You say >"The end of all poverty and want has not caused people to become lazy parasites, as conservatives would have it, but empowered them to throw off materialism" < All well & good, except that's just the way the writers wrote it. In reality, I live less than 8 miles away from where, in the early '90's, there was rioting, looting & general destruction in 'protest' of the NYS Governor's idea of making able-bodied welfare recipients work for it.

You say Trek has thrown off the yoke of materialism – Again a lofty ideal, but the reality… TOS never even tried to perpetrate that myth, using 'credits' as the currency – TNG, in it's poorly written way, tried to present it, but couldn't pull it off. (Just what WERE the stakes at all those poker games?) DS9 clearly showed it's Starfleet members gleefully engaging in commerce, and even Voyager, cut off from the rest, used replicator rations as currency among the crew.

I pretty much adhere to the cultural/religious tolerances myself, so I'm not going to try to dispute those.

The "Starfleet is not a military organization" is, of course, the biggest crock that they try to pull. And if you think that the Federation doesn't use the threat of military response to keep other races in line, you haven't watched closely enough *any* TNG episodes involving the Khardassians.

The US military, when not engaged in battling the forces of evil, is one of the biggest humanitarian aid suppliers in the world (and usually while we ARE battling the forces of evil, as well!)

You site Jean Luc's negotiations 'skills'. The weakest captain of the lot, he's the last one I'd want negotiating anything, and the last I'd want watching my back in a fight. In his 1st official act as captain, when faced with a threat, he ran away & when that didn't work, he surrendered. But, that's what happens when you put a Frenchman in charge. Give me Sisko or Janeway any day.

Federation policy has always reflected the best of American ideals – Say what you want, it's true. Created by an American, subjected to American studio/network scrutiny & written by Americans, it's a philosophy I've tried to share. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

I don't think you could label me a conservative, per se. Probably more of a libertarian, or somewhere in between. Most of my comments are to get Space Cowboy's goat. But he's starting to ignore them…

Berman seemed to think that you needed a ship called Enterprise to have a successful Trek series. Audiences didn't so much care what the vessel was called, as long as the show was GOOD. ENT was rushed out to fill an ailing UPN lineup, IMHO.

As for Star Trek being done, far from it. I do some side work for the people running the conventions. I was in Cherry Hill, NJ last week (where neither Alpha Girl NOR Space Cowboy threw rocks @ me!) fort the final East Coast Stargate SG-1/Atlantis convention. Poor sales are ending it & the yearly one in Burbank California will be the last one there, as well. It was about half full. I'm working the Star Trek Convention in March & while there last week, we were already going over security arrangements for the 2010 one. As great as SG1 is, the fan base just isn't as strong.

Rick Berman said @ the utter collapse of Enterprise: "People are tired of Trek. It needs a rest." What he didn't get is that people were just tired of BAD Trek, and fortunately, they sent him out for a very long rest.

Star Trek has always been about hope for the future. Zachary Quinto is right about the new movie being the perfect entertainment for Barack Obama’s America. As we face the horrors of both a liberal president AND a liberal congress, hope for the future is all we have left. We must believe that we can get through this & we will endure. (Now, aren't you sorry you DIDN'T throw rocks at me, S.C.? )

Star Trek has always given me that hope. Now that Berman's out of the picture, I'm betting it can do it again…

Excellent! Thank you for clearing that up. I even vaguely remember that, so now I feel like a bit less of an idiot. Thanks.

@ Teresa:
No offence meant, but here’s my opinion: Troi’s whole purpose on the show dramatically speaking was to state the obvious for the slow people in the audience who couldn’t follow what was going on, or to get the characters to say what they’re thinking in an unnatural and expository fashion. Guinan, dramatically speaking, was a new, improved Troi in that she tended to state the obvious (“The Borg are Bad” “You can’t trust Q”) and get people to say things that are on their minds, and then toss it back at them in a way that makes them feel kinda’ stupid. (“In every society there have been people who are for whatever reason not considered people”)

The difference is that Guinan did this somewhat more naturalistically, and in a less Soviet fashon than Troi did in the early years, and she had a mysterious past that made her a bit more interesting than Troy. And of course Whoopee is a much better actress than Marinia.

I don’t think she’s awsome, though, she’s basically an expositional tool more than a character.
Of course more Guinan meant less Troi, and that’s always a good thing.

Also, yes, thank you for being enough of a nerd to look that up, so the rest of us can focus on being geeks.