There are two Star Trek schools of thought regarding humanity:
1. Times change, technology changes, but humanity remains the same. ("Space Seed", TOS)
2. Humanity has evolved and is no longer a childlike race. ("Encounter at Farpoint" & "The Neutral Zone", TNG)
Then there's the idea that we're moving along a curve, stated by the Metrons ("Arena", TOS): We're civilized but still half-savage.
What if Star Trek integrated the first two opinions into the Federation's ideology? What if there were a liberal view that humanity changed and a conservative view that humanity never changes? It would make the UFP seem less monolithic if both views were represented at the same time. Then there would be all the various shades of gray in-between.
That'd be awful Human-centric, wouldn't it? I mean, the Federation is composed of more than just Humans. Humans are supposed to be equal partners with around 150 other species, including Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, Betazoids, Trill, Ullians, Bolians, Benzarites, Bre'elians, Grazerites, Efrosians.... etc.
This would do away with the Federation having a "right way of thinking" and a "wrong way of thinking".
I don't think it does. I think the idea that it ever had a goodthinker mentality came from TNG Seasons One and Two, and I'm just as happy to ignore that nonsense as I am to ignore the idea that the Klingons joined the Federation.
ETA:
To address more of the substance of your post, I think it's hard to talk about different ideas about human "enlightenment" because there's no clear definition of what "enlightenment" or "savagery" actually are. The closest thing I can think of that's objectively verifiable is to measure how fully Earth's political culture embraces the principles of constitutional liberal democracy -- i.e., a belief in the rule of law over the rule of men, a belief in civil rights and civil liberties that are clearly and unambiguously and universally protected, equality before the law, equality within society, the necessity of the those in power to obtain popular mandates, and the consent of the governed. We can perhaps add to that a sincere commitment to obtaining peace over war in circumstances that do not require self-defense or the defense of innocents, a sincere commitment to treating other societies as equals, and a sincere commitment to non-interference and non-coercisive, peaceful acts of persuasion when they're trying to spread the values of constitutional liberal democracy.
As for Federation politics in general....
It's hard to predict what sorts of political factions would arise in a union of scores and scores of species spread across 8,000 light-years, living in an economy of abundance where most resources are not scarce. We can perhaps predict a few concerns that would likely arise.
I imagine that the Federation's being allied with the Klingon Empire is probably a topic of controversy within Federation politics. After all, the Empire is a culture that is dedicated to warfare and violent conquest. I imagine that plenty of Federates would be opposed to being allied with them. In point of fact, in the novel
Star Trek: A Time for War, A Time for Peace, that's the prime issue in the Federation presidential election in 2379, shortly before NEM.
I would think that another prime issue would be the idea of continuing to send aide to Cardassia. More than likely there are quite a few Federation Councillors out there who wouldn't want to send resources to the world that tried to conquer them and betrayed the Alpha Quadrant to the Dominion. (This is also an issue in the novel
Articles of the Federation.)
I would imagine that the admission of new worlds would always be a topic of concern -- how many Federates might have been uncomfortable with admitting Bajor, a world that worships entities the Federation regards as merely extra-dimensional entities?
I imagine that the question of whether Starfleet should continue with its exploration programs in the wake of the Dominion War would come up. Some would no doubt argue that Starfleet should be converted into a purely defense-oriented agency, and resources previously devoted to exploration should be instead spent on rebuilding Dominion-occupied Federation worlds.
There would probably be a faction that would seek to prevent the Federation from expanding -- they would probably argue that 150 Members is large enough as it is, and that continuing to grow larger would merely leave the Federation too large to respond swiftly to crises.
I imagine that the rights of sentient holograms would become a major political issue, too. How many Federates would support the kind of slavery established to have been unwittingly practiced by the Federation in "Author, Author?" How many would oppose it?
How to treat the Breen would probably be an issue, as would becoming embroiled in foreign worlds' internal conflicts when they ask for help....
