Star Trek(87)

T’Pol and Reed exchanged a look, aware that there may have been an ulterior motive underlying Zehron’s calculations. Garos’s revelation of the First Family’s secrets had led to the arrests of their operatives and puppets throughout the system, crippling their offworld criminal operations and their ability to buy politicians’ votes. Garos himself had gotten away cleanly, and the Commission showed no interest in pursuing him. No doubt buying immunity had been part of his intent. Although T’Pol believed that Garos was not above taking such actions out of sheer vindictiveness.

“I applaud my colleague’s support for admission,” Kospar put in. “I am convinced that, whatever my predecessor’s First Family ties may have compelled her to do against her preference, Director Hemnask’s true belief was that Rigel would be stronger and better as a member of the Federation. And I hear support for that belief from an ever larger number of her former constituents. I consider it my place to honor that side of her legacy.”

“And I think we all know where I stand,” Sajithen said.

Nop Tenott looked around uneasily. “I still have my doubts about the cost to the liberties of our business interests. I may have been overruled on admission, but if the voters see fit to keep me on this board, I will continue to fight for those liberties.”

“If I may,” Malcolm Reed said. “Certainly it is the right of all citizens to dissent and disagree peacefully. That is a Federation value and a Rigelian one. But there is a right way and a wrong way to do it.” He paused. “I have found over the course of my career that secrets, however benevolent the intentions underlying them, have a tendency to do more harm than good in the long run.”

“Indeed,” T’Pol added. “It is better to express such disagreements openly, within the framework of mutual transparency and trust. We may disagree with one another on many things . . . but so long as we trust one another, we can work together to resolve those disagreements.

“We hope that Rigel’s many worlds and cultures will join the worlds of the United Federation of Planets in a partnership of mutual trust . . . and friendship.”

Excerpt of speech by Councilor Anlenthoris ch’Vhendreni, June 30, 2164

. . . The discovery that two of my chief advisors were on the payroll of the Zankor syndicate, and that they arranged for my diversion and delay at Babel in order to set up a false attempt on my life in hopes of discrediting Admiral Jonathan Archer, has prompted me to conduct a fuller investigation of this corruption. And I am now forced to admit that it extends further into the Planetarist movement than I had wanted to believe. While the great majority of Planetarists have legitimate questions and concerns about the haste with which the Federation has centralized power, the evidence I am releasing today will show how their grassroots activism has been co-opted by a self-serving few who do not have the people’s best interests at heart, but who instead seek to cripple the Federation in the name of their own selfish, even criminal interests. Legitimate efforts to reform the Federation’s laws and secure the liberties of its citizens have been supplanted by cynical manipulation and inflammatory rhetoric designed to undermine the Federation itself and its ability to maintain peace and order. This agenda does not serve the liberties of the Federation’s member peoples, and indeed it actively endangers them.

And I must confess that I have let myself be complicit in this manipulation. I have knowingly acted against my own beliefs and advocated positions that I knew were irresponsible and unwise, because I let myself be convinced that it was necessary to score political advantage. I chose to lie to my own constituents, to be untrue to myself, in the name of winning an election. And in so doing, I forgot that the goal of politics is not to win at any cost—the goal is to serve. I have used the good of the people as a justification for my rhetoric, but I have been a hypocrite in doing so, for I believed I had to trick the people into voting me into office, to inflame their resentment and anger against the opposition, rather than inspiring them to strive alongside me for a better future. No one can govern merely by attacking one’s political rivals. We compete for office, but our obligation once elected is to work together for the common good. Our different values and priorities allow us to act in concert to serve a wider range of the people than any one faction could do alone. This is the essence of democracy.

I intend to withdraw from the presidential race. I know that many of my fellow Planetarists—and there are still many legitimate ones—may feel that they have lost a voice in this election as a result. But they have not. The truth is, my own beliefs and those of Councilor al-Rashid are not that far apart. We agree on the fundamentals, and only differ on certain matters of emphasis that are well within both our capacities to negotiate. Whatever the rhetoric I have spun in the name of politics and in the unwitting service of those who seek to divide and undermine our state, I agree with Councilor al-Rashid that we, the peoples of the United Federation of Planets, have more uniting us than dividing us; that we all share a common goal of making a better Federation and a better future; and that we can achieve that goal by listening to one another and fairly considering one another’s points of view. I believe in the independence, uniqueness, and dignity of the Federation’s member species and cultures, but I believe we cannot defend those ideals unless we are united in defending the whole, and joined by certain fundamental principles. Rather than rushing to an extreme of centralization or of individualism, we must find a balance between the two, a balance we can only arrive at by working in partnership with our political opposition. As the Vulcans say, it is our differences working in combination, not at odds, that will give us strength.