Ok, I see where you're coming from better now. Yeah, I think that's a fair take. But to me Lancer has that "Day after the Revolution" quality where the socialist state has inherited a bunch of messed up problems and has to navigate that, and what I find optimistic about the setting is that it even entertains the notion that navigating all that towards a better future is even possible. Union is trying to end the endless war after all, and another huge part of the tension in the setting is the "when, not if" aspect of Union actually living up to it's ideals. But until then it's Space Dengism.