That was a profound and illuminating analysis you put great thought to. And you pointed out where humankinds’ inherent failings prevent us from truly progressing - like where they merely replaced currency with standing in the pecking order and exchanging favors. That’s where the Soviet Union was and China surely does today.
I met and spoke with Rodenberry pre-resurgence when he was floating a small presentation between colleges showing the pilot doing Q & A and he sincerely believed this was the way to go. I’m a Cold War guy who knows that system would work if people could live up to it, but they can’t so we’re far better off with meritocracy (or close illusion of it) that really does push people to bettering themselves and their society.
When you get down to it, my criticism of Trek is that Roddenberry’s concept describes a reality that cannot exist. Humans don’t evolve to be better. If they are better, it’s by an act of moral agency.
One of the purposes of my likely defunct novel was to pit these two worldviews against each other to expose the inherent folly in Roddenberry’s concept.