Insurrection

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 3:45 pm

Correct me if I'm wrong but the government in Britain at the time wasn't exactly the way it is today. Naturally the House of Lords where all appointed but there was a similar practice for the House of Commons I believe. The guy who shoveled the horse dung on the street wouldn't get in but a distinguished naval officer might. The RN also had to have something for officers on half-pay to do, rather than sit around the pub they could be gainfully employed elsewhere.

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:01 pm

In the basic system was the same as it is now - the bloke with the most votes gets the seat. The vote was limited to males owning land over a certain value, there were a number of "rotten boroughs" with a voting population of a dozen or so, and there was no secret ballot, but the fundamental idea was the same. Naval officers did tend to stand for parliament, not because they were appointed by the Admiralty, but because they tended to get bored and wen looking for something to do.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:43 pm

Must be that half-pay thing again. Only so many ships but a shitload of officers.

KuvahMagh · Post by **KuvahMagh** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:30 pm

My point was that there is historical precedence for this, consider Andoria, they are a Warrior like people, I find it likely that they would have similar traditions. It is even more possible when you consider how many world there are in the Federation that may have a similar history in this regard.

I personally believe it is a bad choice of direction to give Starfleet such influence, as has been pointed out anytime someone wants to destabilize/conquer the Federation they do it through Starfleet. Its unfortunate that this has been portrayed but it is probably the easiest way to do it from the Dramatic sense, especially when it allows us to compare our squeaky clean heroes to the evil doers who go along with this sort of thing.

Post by **Mikey** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:33 pm

And the obverse is true as well; it is easier from a dramatic sense to show our heroes doing the job at hand.

KuvahMagh · Post by **KuvahMagh** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:40 pm

It is also good in a way that it shows us that not every member is the exact same and that despite their training and experience that not all are perfect... its almost like they were mirroring present day Human Society...

Post by **Captain Seafort** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:58 pm

While it's easier from the point of dramatic portrayal to show the protagonists opposing individuals within their own organisation (and it saves on costuming costs as well

), that can't be used as an in-universe justification. From that perspective, Starfleet exerts an alarming (by the standards of a liberal democracy) influence on Federation policy.

"Coming of Age" and "Conspiracy" depicted Starfleet as the key to control of the Federation, both externally (by the aliens taking control of various Admirals) and internally (Quinn wanted Picard as Academy Commandant before he knew the exact nature of the threat).

In "The Big Goodbye", "Too Short a Season", "Darmok", "Chain of Command", and various other episodes, Starfleet Captains are used as ambassadors to alien civilisations, even in situations where it should have been possible to provide a trained diplomat.

I'm not sure if Richard Bashir's sentencing by a Starfleet Admiral should count towards the normal state of affairs - this was immediately after the Dominion fleet entered the AQ, so martial law may have been in effect as a result. There's also the possibility that the Admiral in question was passing on the decision of a civilian judge, since Starfleet was responsible for the decision to allow Julian to continue serving in Starfleet.

Post by **Mikey** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 1:49 am

Even without that particular example, the interchangeability of "Starfleet" and "Federation government" show an almost disturbing bias towards an almost junta-like state of affairs.