Nation Stage V4 12/17/24

 [DRAFT] 

  INTRODUCTION

 Humanity initiated sustained social behavior several million years ago as the Family Stage. The Tribe stage began a half million years ago. Agriculture began about ten thousand years ago. The first Nation appeared about five thousand years ago. The first three stages (Individual, Family and Tribe) were created and managed by survival. The Nation stage was created and managed by humanity. It is still very much a work in process.  

The Individual stage was the precursor to social stages with no sustained cooperation between adults at all. The Family stage introduced sustained cooperation between two adults. Tribe stage introduced sustained cooperation among a group of families. The Nation stage introduces the sustained cooperation among a group of  tribes. At this level, the progression through the stages of social evolution by the extension of cooperation seems smooth and derivative. In closer examination it will become clear that the changes between the Tribe stage and the Nation stage were tectonic.  

The Individual stage was defined by survival. The Family and Tribe stages of social evolution were sculpted by survival. The Nation stage arose as survival issues diminished in the face of abundance. It marks the transition from instinct and compulsion driven survival existence to the pursuit of an optimal, conscious society.  

The first two stages of social evolution (Family and Tribes) managed the blending of different cultures by manifesting a new, dominant culture. The two partners of the Family stage had to merge their individual cultures into a new, Family culture. The Tribe stage replaced the diverse cultures of different families with a new, dominant culture. The Nation stage does not dictate culture but respects the diverse cultures of different tribes through toleration, not conformity.  

The first three stages (Individual, Family and Tribe) can be characterized by their instinctive behaviors selectively bred into populations by survival over hundreds of thousand if not millions of years. The Nation stage has not been around long enough for selective breeding and individual survival is no longer dependent on instinctive behavior. The Nation stage moves past instinct with conscious behaviors and needs to be defined by characteristics. The first three stages managed survival. The Nation stage manages abundance.  

As with each progressive stage of social evolution, the Nation stage requires further limits on freedom in order to provide greater benefits.   

ORIGIN  

Farming arose about five thousand years before the Nation stage. The nation stage arose from the practicality of protecting the abundance of farming from the ancient, violent, competitive instincts among neighboring tribes. [Peaceful coexistence is the core of social behavior in any stage. Everything else is just beneficial side effects.] Peaceful coexistence among tribes protected farmers and crops from pointless destruction, greatly increasing productivity. Previous social stages were nomadic economies delineated by relationship or belief system. Farming is a settled economy delineated by their geography.   

The Nation stage arose in a confluence of change. The nomadic, foraging economy of the Tribe stage was replaced by the settled, agrarian economy that rooted the Nation stage. The constant violence between nomadic tribes was always mitigated by keeping physical distance. Settlement removed the buffer of movement. Violence between tribes reinforced cultural consistency within tribes and diversity among tribes as well as breeding the strongest warriors and best hunters. Violence between agrarian settlements defeated abundance and even subsistence.  

In the Nation stage, peaceful commerce replaced war in the relationships between societies. The accommodation of multiple cultures from multiple tribes requires universal tolerance if not compassion. The difficulty melding the traditions of multiple tribes leads to tolerance and opens the way to innovation and progress. The initial transition from war to peace was forged by war as aggressive tribes conquered less aggressive tribes, forming unstable proto-nations of subjugation.  

Where the tradition based stages were forged by the necessities of survival, the Nation stage was born from practicality. It was a waste of lives and effort for settled tribes to sustain war with each other when agriculture had moved them from subsistence to sufficiency. That same effort could go into creation rather than destruction.  

CHARACTERISTICS  

For the first three stages of social evolution, survival has been the sculptor of instincts and behavior. From the Nation stage on, choice and progress fueled by practicality become the sculptors. Conformity dominates the two tradition based stages. The polar opposite of conformity, tolerance for diversity, dominates the Nation and later conscious stages.  

Since a Nation stage society is founded on tolerance for diversity, a list of common behaviors defining the culture is not as relevant as it is for earlier stages. The tradition based stages forged behaviors through survival. The Nation stage blends cultures including behaviors. We need to look at defining characteristics rather than behaviors.  

A nation is defined geographically and is rooted in settlement. The identity of a nation is founded ultimately on a social contract that defines the common goals of the society. Commitment to the contract is a conscious choice supported by self-discipline and conformity. The prevailing identity of a nation is conceptual. The extension of universal inclusion provides mutual sharing, protection and support. In the nation, the role of tradition governing behavior is superseded by more active government whose limits are expressed in legislation, regulation and enforcement.  

In order to accommodate the diverse cultures of the different tribes, participants in Nation stage societies have to value diversity and inclusion which opens the way to innovation. As in previous social stages, sharing and mutual protection is extended within boundaries of the society. It also allows for unique levels of freedom bounded by unique levels of obligation. The Nation stage acknowledges and respects individual freedom within the bounds of codified, acceptable behavior including respect for the uniform freedom and rights of all participants.  

A Nation stage society defies certainty where earlier stages require it. Tolerance of diversity requires accepting inclusive, black AND white, thinking as opposed to the exclusive, black OR white, thinking of tradition based stages.  

CHARACTERISTICS DETAIL  

Conformity Respecting Diversity - Absolutes 

There seems to be a paradox in the need to require conformity in respecting diversity. That is the failure of black or white thinking. The Nation stage embraces relativism: black and white thinking. Complete respect for diversity would require respecting those who reject diversity. But, like so many principles, absolute respect for diversity is not practical. If so, it would have to allow all crimes in a totally free society which is anarchy. However, the only totally free society is the Individual stage where there are no limits on behavior except instinct and survival. In the Nation stage, there has to be a balance between freedom and responsibility beyond laws. So, the conflict between conservatives and progressives is not which principles we follow but how we set the balance between consistency and practicality. This dynamic equilibrium is one of the benefits of a functioning dual party system. Such a balance, in the absence of universal intelligence, seems to result crusaders on both sides devoted to exclusive certainty.  

Entanglement of Diversity and Identity 

Identity in the Individual stage is defined experientially. Identity in the Family stage is defined primarily by personal relationships. Identity in the Tribe stage is defined by an exclusive shared belief system (including traditions). The identity of the tribe is defended by our most intense survival energy, violent exclusion of nonconformity and violent enforcement of conformity. Gathering unique tribes to settle in one location denies them their natural insulation from each other by distance. It denies them their exclusive tribal identity. It defeats the tribal survival compulsions. The nation stage demands a primary focus on suppressing the violent, bigoted instincts of the individual tribes. Overcoming those instincts takes generations of socialization, of exposure to a diverse society. The first generations require enclaves (ethnic communities) to achieve any level of peaceful coexistence.  

So, what are the behaviors common to a society based on diversity?  Following three stages of society with intense identities, participants in a nation stage society are in search of any identity beyond geography. Our adherence to a social contract is not an identity since we have diverse interpretations of the contract. This anxiety from vague identity gives rise to intense participation in individual pursuits, family sub-cultures, and tribal sub-cultures while still subservient to the Nation society.  

 If a society is devoted to total diversity we would have an anarchy, a potentially peaceful Individual stage society. A nation has to have laws to guide people away from predatory competition. Laws provide the functionality of traditions in earlier stages of society.  

A Nation stage society defies certainty. It is a chaotic collection of sub-cultures under a general umbrella of a social contract and confined by the limits of law. It is a living dynamic equilibrium based on seeking balance between opposing influences: the transition from exclusive duality to inclusive duality, from past certainty to evolving future goals. It requires a conformity to accepting non-conformity; it requires limits to preserve freedom; it requires respect for diversity and excludes prejudice; it requires inclusion and excludes exclusion. It is a conscious experience following three stages of instinctive experience. The consciousness is in constant conflict with millions of years of selectively bred instincts. It requires all participants to be responsible for managing their own instincts in pursuit of diversity and freedom. It requires maturity to actively participate in a Nation stage society.  

In order to make a Nation stage society viable, all participants have to share a common consciousness prevailing over instincts. There needs to be a government to supervise and guide the chaos of diversity. There needs to be a bill of rights to protect individuals from abuse by the government. There needs to be a Bill of Obligations [which would be unenforceable] to protect the government from abuse by individuals. There needs to be laws to protect individuals from each other. Diversity can't just be accepted. It has to be protected. Therein lies the rub.  

The inherently weak identity of the Nation stage may resolve to a common crusade to suppress violent instincts and behaviors: peace and order.  

Responsibility 

A superficial perspective on freedom fails to acknowledge the required responsibility of the individual. Balance in species populations are limited in general by survival. The primary means that life uses to limit populations are: food supply, predators, disease and pollution. By the Nation stage, human kind has essentially eliminated the first three by growing our own food, killing off predators, healing disease and managing sanitation. We have accomplished this through cooperation, coordination and innovation. We have broken through the main limits on our population and behaviors yet we have not accepted the responsibility for them.  

Tolerance and Intervention 

Tolerance has several levels. The initial level is disregard – passively ignoring diversity. The next level is acknowledging diversity without judgment. The next level is accepting diversity. The final level is acknowledging diversity with cooperation.  

The minimum participation in Nation stage society requires at least the toleration of, if not the respect for, diverse behaviors within the limits of law.  

Even tolerance has to accept legal forms of intolerance. Furthermore, behaviors in the earlier stages were all driven by survival benefits in a era of scarcity and dangerous environment. By the nation stage, survival was no longer a dominant issue as the accrued benefits provided by earlier stages combined with agriculture yielded abundance and a safe environment. As a result, the Nation stage society is not grounded in fear or scarcity or tradition. Being free to choose their own way, participants in the Nation stage seek benevolent chaos.  

Inclusion 

As in the earlier social stages, participants in the Nation stage have to suppress prior stage exclusion instincts. The Tribe stage exclusion behaviors (violent bigotry) is particularly difficult to manage.   

Cosmopoly 

The Family stage initiates the partial blending of cultures, initially between partners blending their Individual stage behaviors and later blending Family stage behaviors joining partners from different families. Exclusivity between families was already weakened since each partnership from different families had to overcome it.  The Tribe stage continued the blending process as it combined multiple family cultures under a cohesive belief system. The identities of families remained intact while the tribe identity and exclusivity were dominant.  The Nation stage attempts to blend the fierce exclusive cultures of multiple tribes under the guidance of a conceptual goals. Tolerance and diversity are essential.  

Education 

In the prior stages of society, children needed extensive training and education in family and tribal traditions. Tribal adults needed continuous reinforcement of their devotion to traditions.  In order to participate in a Nation stage society, individuals need extensive training and education to understand the concepts of the social contract as well as to acknowledge and manage the primitive instincts that served their ancient ancestors. This training has to be initiated and supported in the family and in universal education institutions. This is essential since the very nature of a Nation stage society is conceptual rather than instinctive. Here, again, is the paradox of the conscious social stages: the pursuit of diversity requires the conformity of tolerating it.  It is not clear that humanity has succeeded in developing stable strategies to manage the diversity and freedom of a Nation stage society.  

BENEFITS  

Food 

A settlement cannot exist without a sustainable source of food. Smaller settlements can support themselves from sufficient natural abundance. Larger settlements depend on the managed food supply of agriculture. The Nation stage is based on agriculture as the Tribe and Family stages are based on nomadic foraging. Nomadic economies rely on nature to do the farming. Settlements require humans to take responsibility for farming.  

Progress 

By breaking free of traditions and instincts, by moving from exclusive to inclusive societies, by moving from conforming behaviors to diversified behaviors, by moving from stifling innovation to encouraging it, by moving from warfare to commerce, the Nation stage has opened the way to constantly accelerating progress and peaceful coexistence.  

Freedom 

Replacing conformity with diversity allows for much greater individual freedom of choice and much greater innovation.  

Productivity 

The transition from focusing on the past framed by tradition to focusing on the future framed by innovation constantly accelerates mechanization and industrialization, accelerating both production and consumption. Combined with specialization, innovation has launched Nation stage societies into the universe of dynamic progress. It has cleared the path past tools to technology. 

Peace 

By extending cooperation to a geographic domain, the Nation stage society extends cooperation to everyone encountered. Cooperation becomes the default.  By incorporating diversity within the society as opposed to between societies, the effort devoted to violent exclusivity in the Tribe stage can be diverted to peaceful productivity in the Nation stage.  

Security 

By extending cooperation to a geographic domain, the Nation stage society extends cooperation to everyone encountered. The Nation stage reinforces peace by law. It extends the rule of law uniformly.  

CONFLICTS  

Instincts v. Conscious Choice 

The Nation stage society sets aside the conformity and lethal conflict of the tradition based stages. War breaks out today as the copious benefits of peaceful cooperation fail to offset the powerful instincts for lethal competition and intolerance. Building a nation takes decades if not centuries and many generations. Building a peaceful nation requires replacing aggressive instincts with far more productive cooperation and commerce. Sustaining a peaceful nation is a further challenge. Aggressive commerce is not helpful and useful only when carefully regulated to limit destructive competition.  

Taboos v. Conscious Choice 

Dissent (resist policy) v. obedience Diversity v. conformity v. coordination Heresy (deviate) 

Skepticism (question authority) 

Treason (deviate destructively) v. allegiance 

Innovation v. tradition

For Tribe stage societies, Nation stage behaviors represented threats to the survival of the tribe and were subject to lethal punishment. Enforcement was driven by our strongest survival reflex: protecting the tribe. All of these tribe taboos are welcome and necessary in Nation stage societies in order to meld the various member tribes in peaceful cooperation. In actuality, the Nation stage society is a threat to the dominance of traditionalism and thus the tribe. In the Tribe stage, tradition was integral with the identity of the society. The Nation stage society accepts multiple, subordinate tribes. The identity offered by the Nation stage is much weaker than that provided by the Tribe stage. Our ancestors sacrificed their lives and their family's lives to protect the tribe. This conflict has to be addressed in national education.  

Peaceful dissent, resistance to authority, in the Nation stage provides visibility for alternative perspectives. It is part of the heterogeneous dynamic balance of diversity. Violent dissent is subject to lawful limits. Dissent in a tradition based society is a violation of obedience, conformity and devotion to traditions. It is a clear threat to the survival and dominance of the traditional society.  

Diversity is the core of the Nation stage as it accommodates the diverse cultures of its member tribes. Diversity is also the source of its success as it opens the way to the future and progress, freeing humanity from the tyranny if not the value of tradition. It is a clear threat to the survival and dominance of the traditional society.   

Heresy is the practice and promotion of behavior that deviates from tradition. Legal heresy is part of diversity. It is a clear threat to the survival and dominance of the traditional society.  

In the Nation stage, values are pursued with varying degrees of intensity. In the tradition stages, values are tradition and have to be pursued without interruption. When a traditionalist sees an innovationist neglecting a value, they see it as failing to observed traditions which is a cardinal sin and that person is to be shunned.  

Skepticism is questioning the validity of any situation. It is part of dissent and is useful to review conventional assumptions. It is a clear threat to the survival and dominance of the traditional society.  

Treason in traditional societies could include fraternizing with other societies in violation of strict and violent isolation. Accepting other cultures without prejudice is a violation of tribe exclusion and bigotry.  

Innovation vs. Tradition 

Tradition has served society since the first mother in the Individual stage. It is the passing down of a collection of viable behaviors gained in prior generations for the benefit of the current generation. It is a focus on the past to enable survival in the present. It trusts the past and ignores the future. It was a tremendous survival advantage over species limited to their instincts and personal experience. Innovation is the opposite of tradition. Tradition keeps doing what we have done. Innovation tries new things. Until the Nation stage, trying new things was a great way to get yourself killed. Since the Nation stage has to be based on tolerance and diversity, innovation can flourish.   There is another conflict here. Devotion to tradition combined with blame and punishment give the tribe a sense of certainty and control over everything. If anything goes wrong, they don't blame the traditions or even question them, they conclude that some are not properly practicing the traditions. They have to be identified or at least scapegoated and punished until they correct their misbehavior or die. The process is repeated until the problem goes away or the tribe perishes. Innovators are constantly experimenting with new things and learning from the results whether they meet expectations or not. From the perspective of tradition, any result that is not perfect requires punishment of the perpetrator. Even if the results are largely successful, traditionalists will only see the imperfections, with alarm.  From the tribal perspective, the nation's pursuit of goals all look like failure to practice traditions, anathema. Similarly, the nation's encouragement of diversity looks like failure to conform, taboo. From the nation perspective, traditionalism looks like blatant refusal to accept responsibility for the past, present or future.  

Metamorphosis 

The transition from nomadic tribes to settled nations, from warring tribes to a cooperative nation, from tradition based conformity to diverse conceptual harmony is a tumultuous change. The enforced certainty of tribal conformity is a stark contrast to the voluntary confusion in a Nation stage society. The Tribe stage embraces the twin imperatives of consistency and certainty offering security. The Nation stage offers diversity, progress and freedom.  

Certainty 

Each stage of social evolution requires greater management of instincts in return for greater peace and prosperity. The transition from tradition based societies to an innovation based society creates powerful contrasts and conflicts between the uncertainty of exploration and the certainty of repetition.  

Inclusion vs. Exclusion 

The primary definition of a Tribe stage society was their exclusive belief system. This exclusiveness was violently encouraged by hatred, bigotry, identity, certainty, xenophobia and conformity. In order to participate in a Nation stage society, people have to suppress all those instincts and behaviors to peacefully include the beliefs of multiple tribes.  

Subordinate Societies 

The basic behaviors characteristic of previous stages of societies are always present to some degree in the current stage as are behaviors characteristic of future stages [actually, layers rather then stages]. The primary emphasis, the primary allegiance is what determines the stage. The rest of the behaviors have to be subservient to the primary stage behaviors. The balance between earlier and later stage behaviors favors cooperation as we follow social evolution. We still need to be able to provide basic care of ourselves without assistance from others but without hindrance from others as well. Similarly, we need to maintain our families and our belief systems. The Nation stage devotion to peaceful cooperation means that the populace has to suppress all the violent and exclusive behaviors and instincts of subordinate stages.

 Conformity within Diversity Although the Nation stage puts a priority on accepting diversity, it is still rooted in conforming to basic social behavior. We still have to teach all our children to share not take, to help not hurt, to respect not hate, to cooperate not resist, to give as well as receive, to question with respect and to serve the benefit of all as well as the self. These uniform morals give the society an underlying identification and enlist support from earlier stage instincts to stabilize the Nation stage. Even so, there are many earlier stage behaviors and instincts that are in conflict with the Nation stage. Perhaps the transition between Tribe stage and Nation stage reflects a maturation of society.  

Cooperation vs. Violence 

Violence within nomadic tribes was a problem that had to be suppressed, lest it weaken the tribe. If not, it would result in schism and the formation of two tribes, usually hostile. In settlements, violence and conflict were even less tolerable since the opposing sides were stuck in the community.  The path to nationhood was likely eased by the needs of community. When tribes were nomads, it was fairly easy to manage sustained warfare with their neighbors through simple avoidance. When the tribes started settling down, sustained warfare between neighbors was much more damaging and less avoidable. Furthermore, the relative abundance of farming and herding raised the importance of economics, commerce and specialization. None of those benefit from violence. The inherent conflicts among communities with different cultures left nascent nations, groups of tribes, seeking common ground to sustain peace and order. Instinctive behaviors based on millions of years of hunting and gathering were of little use to farmers and traders. This begged a transition from traditionalism to progressivism.  

Choice vs. Instinct 

From the first glimmer of society appearing under the leadership of the first parent, children are selectively bred, then taught, to practice cooperation and limit lethal competition. By the Tribe stage, compulsive behavior is dictated by traditions. There is little choice. In the transition to the Nation stage, people are called upon to make conscious choices in place of compulsive rules. Conscious choice had been ruthlessly suppressed by conformity in the tribe stage and by survival and repetition in all earlier stages. Major social progress in the Family and Tribe stages was based on the advantage of traditional over spontaneous behavior.  

Diversity vs. Conformity 

To get the maximum benefits from traditions, Tribe stage societies evolved to use personal and group conformity to insure devotion. Deviance and dissent were not tolerated. Either were potentially lethal crimes against the Tribe stage society. In the Nation stage, diversity is not only accepted, it is required. The Nation stage has to meld the diversity of the member tribes subordinate to the social contract and laws.  

Freedom vs. Conformity 

Freedom is not an essential element of the Nation stage. One way to insure peaceful cooperation among tribes is with violent autocracy dictating behavior. This is leveraging the conformity behavior of the Tribe stage to suppress the belligerence of the Tribe stage. More advanced Nation stage societies, where peaceful cooperation has become cultural, can attain the voluntary behavior we call freedom. Freedom is an opposite of conformity, but unlimited freedom is the definition of an Individual stage society. Unlimited freedom in the Nation stage would require participants to make ethical choices and manage their toxic instincts. We have yet to see a society that can do that. We still need laws and regulations to guide us past our toxic instincts. We also need clear definitions of our social contract obligations. If nothing else, we need to conform to tolerating non-conformity. 

Egalitarianism 

In spite of the Nation stage acceptance of diversity and suppression of prior stage exclusion behaviors, there has always been at least covert residual bigotry and prejudice. Individual stages violently exclude everyone else. Family stages violently exclude other families. Tribe stage societies violently exclude other tribes. There is an inevitable gravity for primitive instincts to partially emerge from suppression by forming subordinate sub-cultures of individual, family and tribe behaviors. This is acceptable so long as these earlier stage behaviors remain truly subordinate to the Nation stage. It requires the paradox of excluding exclusion. This requires black and white thinking to replace the black or white thinking of earlier stages.    

Abandonment 

In nomadic societies, it is very simple to just leave behind those who can't keep up. Nomadic societies usually can't afford members who can't take care of themselves or need special care. The settled nature of nations make it much harder to abandon those with special needs. In addition, the affluence of an agrarian economy makes it possible to care for all. Those who hoard their wealth, takers, usually resist these efforts sponsored by those who are willing to share.  

Stability 

The dynamic contest between life and death defines the stability of life all through the evolution of society. In the Individual stage, death dominates life. In the tradition based stages, life pushes death back with retained experience and discipline but death still shapes the society. By the Nation stage, death has been pushed far back by the benefits of social cooperation. Life is no longer obsessed with survival and it expands freely as innovation pushes free of the constraints of tradition. So, now what opposing forces stabilize life? The pressure of population and inspiration has to be restrained by reason and reason is a dangerous tool to use. Logic and reason are only as accurate and useful as their facts and presumptions are complete.  Tradition provides the certainty of prior experience. Innovation invokes the confusion of novel experience that opens the doorway to progress. Stability in the Nation stage is basically the conscious chaos of progress. This is extremely stressful to those not ready to turn away from traditionalism  

Growth 

Peaceful nations based on cooperation and diversity can regress into Tribe stage behavior and absorb neighboring regions through invasion or isolated regions through colonization.  

Culture 

Laws provide don'ts. Cultures provides do's. Laws define taboos. Cultures define values and priorities. The grand mayhem of the Nation stage arises from the diversity of values and priorities in conflict. Traditions make choices for everyone. The Tribe stage devotion to culture (traditions) leaves people blind to the impact on others. The core of Nation stage cooperation is respect for other cultures, subordinating tribal cultures for the success of the nation. Unfortunately, the nation does not offer either culture or certainty. Hence, the Bill of Obligations defines clarity on the nation's culture. Unfortunately, it is unenforceable.  

Inclusive Tolerance of Diversity 

Inclusive Tolerance of Diversity is a goal, not absolute requirement. Diversity implies freedom and freedom is never unlimited past the Individual Stage. In the Nation stage's efforts to tolerate the diversity of different cultures, there are always going to be excluded behaviors identified as crimes. These are typically violence against others. The definition and intolerance of crimes have to be supported through out the population. Then there are the gray areas. Dissent is freedom of speech. Violent dissent is a crime. Dissent is an agent of decomposition. In lower degrees of conviction it provides useful contrasts. In higher degrees it serves as the leverage for civil war and the decomposition of the Nation stage society.  The tolerance of a Nation stage society for divisive extremism is a constant measure of the strength of the society. When that strength fails to confine the extremism, it is time to recycle the society. The maturity of the society allows for the acknowledgment and incorporation of extremists.  

Priority vs. Prejudice 

Lightly held prejudices are essential for dealing with complexity. Dividing the world into yum and yuck allows us to discriminate very efficiently. If we had to stop and analyze each choice we make in a day, we would rapidly run out of day and mental stamina. Making categorical decisions is essential for our inadequate minds. Strongly held prejudices can be problematic. It is a dynamic equilibrium between rigid and flexible prejudice that provides stability. Priorities are an example of flexible prejudices. Tribal beliefs are an excellent example of the extremist inflexibility that can be toxic to a Nation stage society.  

Altruism vs. Corruption 

Competition is based on taking. Altruism is based on sharing. In deficient economies, taking supports survival. In abundant economies, sharing is possible. Any action taken with a goal other than the intended one is corruption. It is particularly familiar when resources intended for sharing are taken for self-gain. A Nation stage society is based on sharing. If the Nation's economy is based on taking (free market capitalism for example), it is difficult to keep the sharing and taking separated. If the Nation's resources are strained to the point that workers do not receive livable wages, then a secondary economy of bribery and pilfering rises up. In any economy, there are those whose primary allegiance is to competitive behavior (taking). They need to be regulated.  

Democracy vs. Feudalism 

Feudalism was the most recent political-economic system preceding the Nation stage. It is a bridge system that emphasizes agriculture and commerce while deemphasizing war. It is still an autocracy like a tribe. The serfs have no say in anything except how to grow food. The necessary education to manage a fief is limited to the Lord's family. It is a top down governmental system as opposed to the bottom up democracy. In the Nation stage, it is the sparse wealthy class that have little direct influence on a democratic government. They can very rarely gather a majority of voters to support their agenda. They are jealous of the power of the Lords of feudalism, particularly as they compare their great power over their own financial empires with their lack of influence on government.  Typically there is further resentment of progressive governments since the wealthy have already learned how to win the economic competitions and are loath to see the rules change. They have achieved their wealth by dominating their economic competition and the only institution that can still dominate them is the government. The wealthy seek limited progress and weak government. These considerations naturally lead them to adopt Tribal behavior and seek a return to feudalism. These considerations also lead them to use their wealth and competitive acuity to influence government by any means they can find to get around elections.  

Opportunism and Insurrection 

Insurrection in a Nation stage society may be justified if in response to a tyrannical majority. Otherwise it is violence by a dissatisfied minority, usually extremists. The great vulnerability of a democracy is its diversity. Insurrectionists have to garner solidarity (conformity) to take advantage of diversity. The easiest way to inspire conformity is to generate fear of an external enemy which threatens the existence of the dissident group. The polite way to do this is to identify some virtual enemy outside the nation. The impolite way to do this is to identify some virtual enemy inside the nation. Both targets trigger our strongest survival instincts to preserve the tribe. It also assures a group identity and empowers activism. If the insurrectionists can find a way to weave in a fabricated threat to families, they can trigger the next most powerful survival instincts. Then, if they can fabricate the appearance of their group being victimized by the “enemy” they can trigger the individual stage self-preservation survival instincts. All this has tremendous appeal to those members of the national populace who have lost trust of rational arguments and their own intellect. Traditionalist societies are not only pre-rational, they find internal dissent to be a taboo. In order to support diversity between traditional societies, there needs to be as much diversity in belief systems as possible. It is in human genes to believe anything and anybody. Critical thinking is an acquired skill.  

Back to politeness, if the fabricated enemy is external to the society, the insurrection can lead to a conflict in priorities. If the fabricated enemy is within the society, the insurrection will lead to persecution if not civil war.