A potential long term plan, once we've gotten Diplomacy, Intrigue, and Stewardship up, is negotiating Hawaii out from under the Galactic Federation. According to the DVV Gridlocked documents, it could be possible to invoke Earth legalese to counteract alien legalese- in this case, the Hawaii Admission Act.
If successful, we'll have established contact with a powerful and not immediately hostile faction (even if bureaucracy does define them), increased our public standing, and earned the loyalty of an entire state. If we fail, the worst that'll happen is we tick off some paper pushers. Well, the worst that could happen is a diplomatic incident inciting interstellar war, but that isn't too likely. Probably.