Resistance is NOT Futile!

We first became acquainted with the power of Federation democracy in "Journey to Babel" in the original series, when Kirk's Enterprise trucked more than 100 Federation delegates to a neutral planetoid to discuss and vote on the admission of Coridan to its ranks. We saw argument, contentiousness - and a serious, violent effort to disrupt the democratic process and usurp its outcome.

That's the nature of democracy. It's messy, it's uncomfortable - but it's better than the alternatives, as Winston Churchill famously assured us.

The idea of a self-governing society, where all are considered equal, is humankind's dream. It's one of the things that makes Star Trek so attractive to its tens of millions of fans. The Federation, which is wildly diverse and yet inspiringly united, is a utopia.

And especially now, as the opening decades of the 21st century have experienced an uncomfortable rise in authoritarianism - not just in the United States, but in Europe and South America as well. It doesn't look promising.

This book suggests that we can look to Trek, not only for inspiration, but for conviction and a call to action.