In the end, the only political systems that seem to work are those based
on freedom. The Inner World leaders of the Terran Federation seem to
have forgotten this simple truth. After fighting the Khanate--with the
Fringe Worlds to supply the raw material and the fighting men--the Inner
Worlds found it hard to give up the powers they had seized during the
war. So they decided not to--rather than allow the rapidly expanding
Fringe Worlds representation in the Federation, they are inviting the
Khanate in, to keep the colonial upstarts in their place. The Fringers
have only one answer to that: insurrection.