by K. Russell

Created on: January 29, 2009   Last Updated: April 22, 2010

Societies evolve in a series of cycles, very much in the same way that children develop in an upward spiral, facing the same issues but at different levels. In the same way, societies go through a predictable cycle of evolution that continuously repeats itself. This awareness can be used to create political, economic and social infrastructures that would eliminate many of the negatives of any society.

The first stage of social evolution is one of freedom. Invention and innovation are its hallmarks. Economies are agrarian, gold and barter based. Military spending is small or nonexistent. Personal freedom is valued above all else. Communities are small and self-supporting, very much like those of the early colonial days in North America through the early period of Westward Expansion.

The result of the Freedom Stage is economic prosperity, social cohesion and personal independence. As a result, people get lazy and they create administrative groups to manage or eliminate inconveniences and irritations. Micromanagement becomes the basis for nearly all economic transactions. The Administrative Stage is characterized by fire and police departments, sidewalks, financial associations and minor infringements on personal freedom and an increase of taxation and military spending, as seen in Roosevelt's New Deal.

Once the structure of taxation and civil legislation is introduced, it grows and feeds upon itself, creating the Bureaucratic Stage. Planning committees become larger and more numerous, limited armies become imposing forces of power and special interest groups of all types demand greater funding and impose greater limitations on personal freedom. Greed and deceit are the coin of the realm. Citizens find are they baffled and buffaloed on all sides, the trappings of wealth and ease only a thin curtain hiding the corruption that controls their lives and leeches them of their just rewards. Government officials hold the law in contempt and create wars for economic stimulation and personal aggrandizement. Remember President Nixon? Bush?

Eventually, the masses will have tolerated as much as they can and they will fight back, often quite violently. This is the Revolution Stage. In this phase of social evolution, people break free from the chains of lost freedom and over-taxation either by refusing to participate or by rioting and destroying the establishment. People will burn down buildings, commit murder or just begin to lose their minds. There are limits to what the

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