The Republic of Shnrubton is a gargantuan, efficient nation, ruled by President Erickson with a fair hand, and remarkable for its national health service, restrictive gun laws, and devotion to social welfare. The compassionate, democratic, cheerful, devout population of 33.392 billion Shnrubtorians enjoy a sensible mix of personal and economic freedoms, while the political process is open and the people's right to vote held sacrosanct.

The government — a sprawling, bureaucracy-choked morass — juggles the competing demands of Education, Environment, and Healthcare. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Snubry. The average income tax rate is 97.3%.

The frighteningly efficient Shnrubtonian economy, worth a remarkable 3,947 trillion Gribbles a year, is driven almost entirely by government activity. The industrial sector is solely comprised of the Book Publishing industry. Average income is an impressive 118,223 Gribbles, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

A new generation of aquariumless hotels are being built under government supervision, skateparks can be found in every city, a large-scale revitalization of the education system is underway, and houses and businesses are bulldozed to make way for ever-expanding cemeteries. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Shnrubton's national animal is the Great Hound, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Shnrubton is ranked 5,083^rd in the world and 1^st in The Great American Union for Most Cultured, scoring 157 on the Snufflebottom-Wiggendum Pentatonic Scale.