There's an interfaces between pre and post scarcity societies at the frontiers of the federation. In those places, it's agents are forced into possible moral quandaries, and the Federation's core often fails to given them proper guidance and support. Sisko is forced to engage in moral laundering for the federation, keeping the hands of the organization clean by engaging in unsanctioned behavior, while also advancing the interests of that organization. This sort of thing happens constantly in our own shitty real world, but In The Pale Moonlight (and DS9 in general) shows a way in which these kind of failures can happen even in a better society.
When you think about it Sisko and Section 31 aren't particularly different in material outcomes (For the Uniform is another episode where Sisko and the Federation are clearly in the wrong) But they are framed very differently and I think in a way that is more liberal ideology than Socialist.
There's an interfaces between pre and post scarcity societies at the frontiers of the federation. In those places, it's agents are forced into possible moral quandaries, and the Federation's core often fails to given them proper guidance and support. Sisko is forced to engage in moral laundering for the federation, keeping the hands of the organization clean by engaging in unsanctioned behavior, while also advancing the interests of that organization. This sort of thing happens constantly in our own shitty real world, but In The Pale Moonlight (and DS9 in general) shows a way in which these kind of failures can happen even in a better society.
When you think about it Sisko and Section 31 aren't particularly different in material outcomes (For the Uniform is another episode where Sisko and the Federation are clearly in the wrong) But they are framed very differently and I think in a way that is more liberal ideology than Socialist.