I like the concept of the Dominion being a dark mirror of the federation but they just turned them into a generic bad guy faction that never actually challenged the ideals of the federation. We'll never get it, but the next Trek after VOY and DS9 should've dealt with the Federation fraying because of the wars and running up against a coalition of planets that are subsuming their individual cultures and freedoms in the pursuit of security. A real anti-federation, where more primitive species are forcibly brought up to space age tech because they think it's immoral to leave a bronze age world defenceless against galactic threats like the Borg or to be wiped out by global phenomenon that their tech could stop (and of course to bring in more bodies to man the Coalition military).
It'd be fun to see the Federation tested against an ideological enemy that actually makes some good points. That was the best parts of DS9 and TNG episodes. I'd give anything to have smart talking political Trek again, instead of zoom zoom boom boom quirk chungus nutrek.
