I can't think of anyone better to do it than Lileks:

"The Next Generation." The post-Reagan years. The Enterprise was no longer a lone vanguard making its way through realms unknown; now it was like a grand Hilton in space, complete with spa, psychiatric counselor, accommodations for kids, and a French captain who could sometimes be mistaken for a cranky sommelier. Whoopi Goldberg was the ship's bartender, which, in retrospect, really tells you all you need to know. Patrick Stewart's Captain Jean-Luc Picard was much-beloved, and for good reason: His stentorian acting style gave the show a dramatic heft it otherwise didn't always deserve.

The Federation, in this iteration, was like a liberal dream of the U.N.: diplomacy first, multicultural understanding above all, but if need be, a gigantic armada could be summoned to fight off whatever evil leather-clad empire had decided to mess with the goodfolk of Earth. Zeitgeist giveaway: The Klingons became allies, sort of, after the Berlin Wall fell. Grade: B+, not so much for overall quality, but because it relaunched the franchise with a broad-based appeal no subsequent version would match.

RTWT

...well then all seems well in space.

Except the Secretary General of the Federation has never been caught in a "food for dilithium crystal" scandal, with his son.

The powers that be at Federation Headquarters don't live so much better than the people they represent. All the while breaking every law they can, whilst crying, "Diplomatic Immunity, Diplomatic Immunity!!"

And last but not least, Kirk and Picard, as representatives of the Federation,were always able to save the universe in a single episode. Of course the Klingons and Cardassians are not in charge of the Inhabitants Rights Council either.

"Except the Secretary General of the Federation has never been caught in a "food for dilithium crystal" scandal, with his son."

Well, there was the TNG episode where some Federation and Starfleet honchos were found to be under control of aliens, much as in Heinlein's "Puppet Masters". Alas, it was never followed up on. Alas and alack, "Operation Bareback" was not implemented on the Enterprise.

Trek has long had an ambivalent, perhaps schizophrenic, vision of the military. While Starfleet is supposed to be the heroic organization exploring the unknown and defending earth, Trek has done a lot of episodes (and movies) where evil admirals are being, well, evil. Seriously, if their human psychological reliability department was this lousy, they should have turned the office of Commander Starfleet to a computer.

Maybe not, William. Remember the M5.

I always considered TNG the best of Trek, starting with season 3. It was an Asimovian universe where brawn does not always work as well as strategy and a good poker face. And it had the perfect ending; not with "All Good Things", although that one wasn't bad, but with its predecessor. I need to write an essay on that sometime...

(Someone tell me why my URL is always blocked by spam filter? Ergh!)

There's still hope for the Star Trek franchise, the travels of the Enterprise B & C haven't been done as yet. It really was more about the ship ;) Kinda like B5 was more about Molari/G'karr than it was about Sheridan/D'lenn