I inquired, surprised to hear a non-Human talk that way. They have a very peculiar form of government. The Duke merely acts as a traffic cop to settle disputes about jurisdiction. I knew all about the Thorgelfaynese form of government from my orientation class, of course, but my ears stung to hear someone actually criticize it. I thought that everyone would consider it to be a very enlightened form of government, and I told him so.
All nations have their unique contributions.
However politically dizzy those Thorgelfaynese may be, they are no slouches when it comes to education. His answers didn't appear to make much sense. I have to keep reminding myself that this is not fiction, and that even the most mature and advanced people might disagree in their mutual assessments. I guess that the maturity of the aliens stems not so much from what they think of each other, but whether and how they act upon what they think. Any way, the trip was quite short and before I knew it we had arrived.