Jim lets out a soft chuckle at that. "Not... strictly speaking. The United Federation of Planets is mainly a representative republic, based on the principles of democracy. However, we have no currency, aside from Federation credits which we use for certain transactions. Mostly outside of Federation space."

He can't even begin to imagine how weird that all must sound to her, so he tries to explain. "Economy is very different, in my time. I couldn't define our government by the standards that you know of in your time, but there are some features which aren't too unlike the purest, most idealistic views of communism and socialism, even though that would be too simple a way to put it."