The There And Back Again of Flexion is a gargantuan, efficient nation, ruled by Jethro Schofield with an even hand, and notable for its complete lack of prisons, keen interest in outer space, and hatred of cheese. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful, devout population of 22.076 billion Flexionians enjoy extensive civil freedoms, particularly in social issues, while business tends to be more regulated.

The enormous government juggles the competing demands of Education, Healthcare, and Welfare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Aegium. The average income tax rate is 85.6%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The thriving Flexionian economy, worth a remarkable 1,732 trillion credits a year, is highly specialized and mostly made up of the Book Publishing industry, with significant contributions from Tourism. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 78,466 credits, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

The importance of winning Olympic gold medals is indoctrinated from an early age, cities are engulfed by smog, the government has adopted a "Lightning Never Strikes Twice" approach to dealing with natural disasters, and voting is compulsory. Crime is totally unknown. Flexion's national animal is the arion, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Flexion is ranked 256,718^th in the world and 86^th in Equilism for Most Corrupt Governments, with 0.73 kickbacks per hour.