Micahel Wong lays out a compelling argument for the Star Trek Federation being Communist. Here’s his conclusion:

You simply can’t have unbridled freedom and strong government at the same time, because one acts directly against the other. The Federation claims to offer virtually unlimited personal freedom to every citizen, but no one ever tests this claim. Billions of people live quiet, spartan, communist lifestyles. They never covet wealth, they never go ripping through space in a personal vehicle, they never expect compensation for their achievements, they never challenge the government with rebellious propaganda, they never push the envelope by producing offensive art, they never accumulate private arsenals … in short, they never do anything to test the limits of their freedom. Supposedly, they have all the benefits of a strong government, without any of the negatives.

In real life, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Give people freedom and they’ll abuse it. Give the government more power and it will abuse it. I’ve been accused of cynicism for saying these things, but I have yet to see anyone produce a shred of evidence to prove that this isn’t true. The balance between social stability and individual freedom is one that all societies must walk very carefully; you can’t simply have both. In my opinion, the only way to produce the Federation’s smiley-faced corps of perfectly well-behaved citizens is to push that balance to the left. All the way left.

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