In Village (2011) are the winning strategies really balanced?
Firstly, I would say that you can block the other players, particularly with the single cube on the market.

Is the other player building up a stock of things to sell on the market? Trigger the market day early. They will, at the very least, have to spend green cubes and time to sell their goods (and won't have stocked up on so much to sell); if they don't have green cubes (or can't afford the time) then all the better.

Secondly, I would suggest that a winning strategy does not necessarily need to be monomaniacally focused on a single area; politics can be used to grease the wheels of travel by providing you with the cubes etc.