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Gammicus

Pax Galacta

To the Editor, Proceedings of the Flint Foundation:

 

While the Flint Foundation journal has been the source of thought-provoking and innovative articles during my readership, I feel compelled to respond to gross inaccuracies and baseless suppositions advanced by the author of the recent commentary Pax Galacta in your publication.

 

In this reference, the author proposed that galactic history has now achieved a period of peace and stability, representing a de facto status quo that ought to be sustained by diplomatic means. The author further justifies this by citing superficial examples of peace such as an "ever-enduring" Klingon alliance, the ultimate "democratization" of Romulus, and the "pacification" of Cardassia. These erroneous geeralizations are of such breadth that it seems unnecessary to refute them, suffice to say the Klingons, Romulans, and Cardassians would probably tend to disagree with the summation.

 

I recognize the intent of this publication is, as its motto states, to improve the human condition through a discourse in science, philosophy, and reason. However, such uninformed observations as those expressed in Pax Galacta, when given voice in your forum, essentially turn their back on facts unfriendly to their premises.

 

History demonstrates that stability for the Federation often requires its citizens to ignore distasteful things that might challenge that peace. We've seen many examples where the cause of the next war was simply ignored in the guise of maintaining the status quo. The absence of war is not peace.

 

The author regales the expected reduction of Starfleet and the dividend that can be directed to other sources, noting the growth and exploration of the early 23rd Century. That vaunted period, while seeing increased peace with the Klingon Empire, also saw the Romulans withdraw into total isolation and the Cardassian military expand unchecked. The Federation Council saw fit to overlook the annexation of Bajor as an "internal matter", tacitly permitting a fifty-year occupation and indirectly, the cause of the next war. What's good for the Federation, it seems, is less than ideal for its neighbors and sometimes its next generation.

 

As one acquainted with worlds ravaged by the Dominion War - Betazed, Benzar, and Cardassia - one can no longer imagine that the next war will tidily confine itself to regions outside Federation space. Pax Galacta is not mere naivete, but willful, dangerous ignorance. Its inclusion has diminished the quality of a superior peer-reviewed publication.

 

GAMMICUS, A Concerned Reader

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