Spotlight on:

“Bugloo you-hou!”

The Free Land of Patgonia is a massive, safe nation, ruled by Leader with a fair hand, and notable for its sprawling nuclear power plants. Its compassionate, intelligent population of 4.644 billion love a good election, and the government gives them plenty of them. Universities tend to be full of students debating the merits of various civil and political rights, while businesses are tightly regulated and the wealthy viewed with suspicion.

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, corrupt government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of the Environment, Education, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 100%. The private sector is almost wholly made up of enterprising fourteen-year-old boys selling lemonade on the sidewalk, although the government is looking at stamping this out.

The mob and the police have recently had numerous clashes in the back alleys of Patgonia's cities due to the government's steadfast anti-casino stance, political parties are banned from advertising and receiving private donations, an increasing percentage of the population's youth have homosexual parents, and souris-hurlantes are frequently shot for looking at people 'in a funny way'. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Patgonia's national animal is the souris-hurlante, which is also the nation's favorite main course, and its currency is the patlar.

Patgonia is ranked 1st in the region and 1,355th in the world for Highest Unemployment Rates.