User:Zach Vega/CountryTest1
Liberstinian Republic | |
|---|---|
 Flag
Great seal
| |
| Motto: "Always strive and prosper" | |
| Anthem: "Winning Everyday, Never Losing" | |
 | |
| Capital | New Saigon (19,882,337) |
| Largest | Pembrook (46,798,062) |
| Official languages | English |
| Ethnic groups (2017) | 76.5% European 15.6% Kinh 4.3% African 3.6% Other |
| Religion | 35.9% Atheist 23.6% Agnostic 15.9% Protestant 8.7% Mahayana 7.5% Catholic |
| Demonym(s) | Liberstinian |
| Government | Semi-democratic plutocratic oligarchy Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic |
| Kevin Duvall (L) | |
| Jack Ringle Richard Obasanjo Jason Lively Blake Iglesias Chris Tshisekedi | |
| Legislature | Parliament |
| Independence from France | |
| 14 October 1894 | |
| 8 June 1895 | |
| 19 February 1899 | |
| 5 August 1951 | |
| Area | |
• Total | 21,977,422 km2 (8,485,530 sq mi) (1st) |
| Population | |
• 2017 estimate | 704,001,220 (2nd) |
• 2010 census | 538,597,804 |
| GDP (nominal) | 2017 estimate |
• Total | $187.34 trillion (1st) |
• Per capita | $266,113 (1st) |
| Gini (2017) | 48.9 high inequality (112th) |
| HDI (2017) |  0.978very high (1st) |
| Currency | Liberstinian dong (₫) (LND) |
| Date format | dd-mm-yyyy CE |
| Drives on | right |
| Internet TLD | /ls, /biz, /gov, /def |
The Liberstinian Republic, commonly referred to as Liberstine, is a federal parliamentary republic and the world's dominant power. Its continental regions are in northern and central North America, north of Mexico, as well as in Greenland. The country also has 34 populated and numerous unpopulated territories in the Pacific, Atlantic, and the Caribbean. At 8.49 million square miles (21.98 million km2) and with over 704 million people, Liberstine is the world's largest country by total area and second most populous. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. Despite this, Liberstine is particularly monocultural, with strict societal pressure for assimilation. The geography and climate of Liberstine are also extremely diverse, and the country is home to a wide variety of wildlife.
Paleo-Indians migrated from Eurasia to what is now the Liberstinian mainland around 15,000 years ago, with Vietnamese colonization beginning in the 15th century. Liberstine emerged from 20 departmental territories along the West Coast, ruled by the Chinese, Vietnamese, and French at various times during the 15th to 19th centuries. After France seized control of Vietnam in 1862, increased nationalism and a poor economic climate fueled an independence movement led by Hoàng Duy Hiếu. The rebel group declared independence against France on 14 October 1894 and the territory became its own sovereign country on 19 February 1899 in the Treaty of Thọ An. A newly-formed socialist government caused decades of economic decadence and institutionalised discrimination against minority ethnic groups by the late 1940s.
Charles Welch took control of the government in 1950, implementing a human rights agenda that outlawed slavery, abortion, and genocide. Neoliberal economic reforms of privatisation and deregulation passed beginning in 1951 by Welch spurred the largest economic boom in history, with GDP per capita increasing from $397 in 1950 to $50,081 by 2000. Liberstine became the world's largest economy in 1996 and the Liberstinian dong became the world's reserve currency in 1999 after an international monetary shift. The decline of the Confederate States, coupled with Liberstine's increasing economic prosperity and the rise of the Islamic Caliphate, produced a bipolar world by 2000, with Liberstine leading the ideology of secularism and freedom of religion and the Caliphate leading the ideology of Islam.
Following financial stagnation and foreign policy disasters in the early 2000s, property developer Thomas Sloan assumed presidency in 2003. His hawkish foreign policy led to the successful defeat of the Caliphate in the Final Crusade, establishing Liberstine as the world's sole superpower. After the fall of the Caliphate, Sloan forced the world's governments passed the Global Human Rights Act, which guaranteed freedom of expression and many other basic rights. In 2014, Liberstinian astronauts landed the first manned mission to Mars. As of 2017, the country has the world's highest standard of living, with a median household income of $277,739 per year.
Liberstine is a developed country and has the world's largest economy by GDP, benefiting from an abundance of natural resources, economic freedom, and high worker productivity. While the Liberstinian economy is considered post-industrial, the country continues to be the world's largest manufacturer, producing 43% of global industrial output. Accounting for 78% of global military spending and 52% of world nominal GDP, it is the world's foremost economic and military power, a prominent political and cultural force, and the leader in scientific research and technological innovations.
History
Colonial era and independence (1402-1949)
Liberstine's territory has been controlled by various empires before gaining independence, but Vietnam has left the most lasting impact, as the vast majority of the region's inhabitants were Vietnamese until the 1980s. Western Liberstine, then known as Dất Dai Mới, was first explored and conquered by the Hồ dynasty in 1402. Control over the region shifted to the Ming dynasty during the fourth Chinese domination of Vietnam from 1407 to 1427. After the Later Lê dynasty regained control of Vietnam in 1428, Mạc Đăng Dung, under the Mạc dynasty, sent 1 million villagers to the area to search for arable land beginning in 1529. The Trịnh lords of Southern Vietnam and Nguyễn lords of the North wrestled for control over Dất Dai Mới for over two centuries, until the Nguyễn dynasty's rise to power in 1802, when Gia Long expanded Dất Dai Mới's territory into central North America. Sovereignty over the region again switched hands in 1862, when France took control of Vietnam during the Cochinchina Campaign.
Increased nationalism and hyperinflation of the French Indochinese piastre during the late nineteenth century provoked the emergence of the Phiến Quân, a rebel group that sought to liberate Dất Dai Mới from foreign occupation. Its leader, Hoàng Duy Hiếu declared independence against France on 14 October 1894 in Mới Sài Gòn. François Pierre Rodier, Governor-General of French Indochina, launched a military campaign against the Phiến Quân in late 1894, and lost battles in Kon Plong, Canh Lô, and Ngô Sơn. By early 1899, the French colonial empire shifted its colonial focus from North America to the Scramble for Africa. Due to the lack of military support, Paul Doumer, leader of French forces, surrendered control over Dất Dai Mới to the Phiến Quân on 19 February 1899 in the Treaty of Thọ An, granting independence to the region's 173 million inhabitants.
The new country, then known as Giải Phóng, was established as a socialist parliamentary republic. Hoàng served as the country's President from 1900 to 1945, and his party, the Quốc Dân Đảng, dominated national politics during the period. While the territory was in the top half of the world's median income in 1900, the failure of a centrally-planned economy caused economic decadence, and by 1940, real GDP per capita had declined by 25%. An active military expanded Giải Phóng's territorial possessions to all of North America, albeit the campaigns placed massive strain on the nation's fragile economy. Racial tensions heightened towards the end of Hoàng's rule, when he ordered the targeted genocide of 4 million Hmong people in 1943. The ethnic cleansing and economic malaise caused an enormous drop in support for the Quốc Dân, sweeping the Canh Tân Cách Mạng Đảng to power in the 1945 general election. Huỳnh Bá Vỹ and Đoàn Xuân Lâm worked to improve racial relations, but this initiative failed, as many government ministers continued to imprison, lynch, and murder Hmong peoples.
Rise as a superpower (1950-1999)
Charles Welch, chief executive officer of Welch Industries, and the Westernisation Party rose to dominance in the 1950 general election, promising economic prosperity and increased civil liberties. The country was renamed as the Liberstinian Republic on 6 October 1951 to reflect the increasing use of English among the populace and most other institutional names were anglicised. Welch privatised most state-owned enterprises, including healthcare and transportation, cut taxes by over 50%, and opened up Liberstine for private investment. In 1958, John Pembrook founded the city of Pembrook and a new constitution was ratified that removed the rights to healthcare, housing, and education and added the rights to corporate personhood, collective bargaining, and a speedy trial.
The free-market capitalist model proved to be a massive success, with real GDP per capita tripling from $1,207 in 1950 to $12,569 in 1980 and GDP growth averaging 10.3% during the period. Thousands of businesses were created in the country to take advantage of the lack of economic regulation and low tax rates. Welch eliminated the maximum immigration cap after the 1955 election. Immigration associated with the economic boom caused a surge in population from 136 million in 1955 to 183 million in 1970. The 1970s saw an global energy crisis develop that pushed the price of petroleum to $109 per barrel. The Welch administration lifted the ban on drilling for the resource in the country in response.
Liberstine's role in international relations increased due to its expanding economic prosperity and power by the 1980s, as the country entered into foreign policy and ideological clashes with Confederate States, one of the world's three superpowers at the time. Overregulation, high taxes on the wealthy, and a bloated welfare state placed barriers on the Confederacy's international competitiveness. Welch remained in power after the Westernisation Party's continued dominance in the 1980 general election. The party won 76.5% of the popular vote, an all-time high. Welch continued neoliberal reforms and privatised the failing public education system in 1980 and ratified the Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement in 1984.
Conflict over control of the South Sandwich Islands with Argentina led to the Overseas Wars from 1984 to 1989. Liberstine gained sovereignty 12 islands in the Pacific and Atlantic as a result of the Treaty of Ferguson Bay, which marked the first military victory since independence. In 1985, Liberstine allied and opened up free trade with the Soviet Union as a geopolitical pivot against the Confederate States. Thomas Duong and networking company ValuNext developed the Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol in 1987 and Blackstone Computer Corporation released the Global Array of Online Pages in 1989. Business investment in Liberstine exploded during the 1980s and the country became the world's largest manufacturer in 1986, surpassing the Confederate States. The implementation of a financial transactions tax in the Confederate States in 1987 by the administration of Timothy Sanders led to mass capital flight out of the nation's financial markets to Liberstine, making Pembrook the world's dominant financial centre. In 1989, Liberstine became the world's largest trading nation following the ratification of the Liberstine-Byzantine Free Trade Partnership earlier that year. GDP grew at a booming 10.9% annualised rate during the decade as real GDP per capita doubled to $26,364 and the population spiked to 324 million by 1990.
Liberstine became the world's largest economy in 1991, once again surpassing the Confederate States. Rapid improvements in productivity triggered by the emergence of the internet, the rise of personal computing, and a privatised education system contributed to the largest economic boom in Liberstinian history during the 1990s. Jack Ringle and his company, Ringle Electronics, debuted the eHub in 1992, becoming the first personal computer to retail under $1,000.
In 1991, the Islamic Caliphate under Caliph Baghdadi attacked Byzantium and pledged to eliminate all non-Muslim infidels by the year 2000. Liberstine provided military support to the Byzantines to counteract the invasion, leading to the Tenth Crusade. The conflict saw constant transfer of Syria and Jordan between Byzantium and the Caliphate until 2000, when the Oslo Accords established set borders on Liberstinian terms. A two-state solution was negotiated in the treaty, with Byzantium controlling Syria and Jordan. Additionally, Charles Welch negotiated an agreement with Baghdadi to trade all petroleum produced in the country in Liberstinian dong, forming the Petrodong, and to allow Liberstinian access to petroleum fields in the country.
Packman Communications developed the first nationwide internet service provider in 1994, and by the end of the century, 95% of Liberstinian households had access to the internet at a speed above 10 Mbps. Stanton privatised the country's outdated municpial rail systems in 1994, causing a surge of private investment in the mass rapid transit industry. The Liberstinian dong replaced the Confederate dollar as the world's reserve currency after expansionary monetary policy by the Diradanian Central Bank led to the 1999 Marina Bay currency conference. The Liberstinian Central Bank, under Jake Gould, implemented Friedman's k-percent rule after the international currency shift. The national current account swung from a $73 billion surplus in 1994 to a $185 billion deficit by 2000 as a result of the Triffin dilemma.
Nhanh Rail Corporation completed the MagPlus 49 in 1996, the fastest maglev train in the world, approaching speeds of 300 km/h. In 1997, Ringle founded the Nuclear and Electromagnetic Research Centre (NERC), a research organisation that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. Welch coordinated the creation of the International Trade Organisation in 1999, which expanded free trade zones to over 75 countries. Pembrook became the world's financial centre and the most populous city by the late-1990s, when the Pembrook Stock Exchange (PBSE) became the largest by market capitalization and the total population clocked more than 13 million. Robert Zekulu made significant improvements in the field of somatic stem cell therapy, determined the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up human DNA, and mapped the entire human genome. His company, HealthWave, became the most valuable in history when it debuted on the PBSE in 1999, valued at $1.7 trillion.
By the end of the 20th century, Liberstinians enjoyed the highest living standards and most prosperous economy in the world, with GDP growing at 15% during the dot-com boom, real GDP per capita approaching $50,081 in 2000, and the country's population climbing at a record pace to 384 million.
Uncertainty and national division (2000-2003)
By the dawn of the 3rd millennium, Liberstine had become a superpower, producing 30% of world nominal GDP and 35% of manufacturing output. As the Confederate States declined in economic and military influence, the Islamic Caliphate sought to expand its influence by invading other countries and instituting Sharia law, which posed a direct threat to Liberstinian values such as secularism and freedom of speech.
After Welch left office in 2000, an internal rift between the neoconservative and libertarian wings of the Westernisation Party caused a split into two separate parties. The Conservative Party advocated for traditionalist social policy and an expansionist military while the Libertarian Party favoured centrist social policy and a reserved military. The Libertarians gained control of Parliament in the 2000 general election, propelling William Perry, a community organiser and junior Member of Parliament, into presidency. An attack from Zaire on LMS Blue Sky Lake and the start of mass genocide of the Dirgan peoples by the Zairians government in 2000 prompted a small military response from Perry despite his party's reluctance to engage in military intervention, signifying the start of the Zaire War. The lack of significant reinforcements in the region led to increasing geopolitical instability, as nearly 25 million Dirgans were massacred by the Zairians during the Perry administration. Capital flight by Liberstinian banks from Confederate assets increased greatly after the country's left-wing government forced financial institutions to offer subprime mortgages in 2001, facilitating the development of a real estate bubble.
The outbreak of the Korean Civil War presented a major diplomatic test for the Perry administration, who supported and armed the Black Pinkers, an insurgency group seeking increased autonomy from the central government. A majority of the aid directed toward the Pinkers ended up in the hands of the Ace of Angels, a terrorist group focused on destroying Western culture. Perry's reluctance to deploy troops in the region resulted in
Ringle Electronics introduced the eMobi in 2001, the first internet-enabled touchscreen cellular telephone. HealthWave generated the first induced pluripotent stem cell in 2002 and by 2004 cures for heart disease, diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and spinal cord injury were available to the general public for under $5,000. movShare revolutionised the video production market, allowing the upload of user-generated content in 2003. GlobalCom developed the first national Gigabit ethernet network in 2005.
Thomas Sloan and global hegemony (2003-present)
Scholars have referred to the 21st century as the Liberstinian Century, reflecting its role as a economic, cultural, and military power.
Following slowing economic growth and foreign policy failures, Thomas Sloan, television personality and CEO of The Sloan Organisation, resigned from his role as host of the popular television show The Boardroom and ran for leadership of the Conservative Party in 2002.
Starting in the mid-2000s, neoconservatism rose to become the nation’s dominant ideology, as concerns over the expansion of the Islamic Caliphate, anti-Korean sentiment and a lack of military interventionism fuelled frustration with libertarianism. Sloan's populist and often divisive rhetoric carried the Conservatives to a supermajority in Parliament in the 2003 general election.
On 23 February 2003, Parliament voted unanimously to declare war not only on the Islamic Caliphate, but the entire religion of Islam. The war would become the most expensive conflict in world history, costing the country a total of $41 trillion. Under Sloan, the Ministry of Defence's successful interventions in international conflicts led many observers to designate the agency as "the world's policeman." Private contractors developed predator drones, combat railguns, laser-armed aircraft, and autonomous fighter robots.
New technologies became crucial in defeating the Zairian forces in battles in Fort Victoria, Leopoldville, and Salisbury. On 4 January 2007, the Zairian regime, led by Ndidi Babajide's Racial and Ethnic Purity Party, collapsed and surrendered to Liberstinian forces in Salisbury. The Ministry of Defence quickly transferred power to a provisional government under the provision of the Ministry of Foreign Relations. On 23 January, the provisional government was abolished and snap elections were held for the first time in 46 years. The Free Market Reform Party, led by Jason Mtendere, won the election in a landslide, garnering 87.5% of the vote.
Varnac, a healthcare research company, released stem cell therapy that generated cochlea hair cells to the public, curing deafness in 2007. Ringle Electronics debuted the ePrint in 2008, the first consumer-grade 3D printer for under $200. In 2009, JXP Rail completed the Trans-Brook Corridor, the largest and fastest maglev rail system in the world, covering The Brooks metropolitan area and averaging speeds of 600 km/h. The International Finance Centre, the world's tallest building at the time, was completed in 2009 with the assistance of ePrint Enterprise in Pembrook.
Sloan retained presidency in the 2010 general elections with another landslide majority of 487 seats.
In 2011, Dominion Automotive released the Pond, the first autonomous, solar-powered car for under $25,000. Cordial Health, a medical research company, demonstrated the production of CD4+ hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in 2012, curing HIV/AIDS. On 4 June 2011, nextSpace, a private space travel company, announced the start of its manned Mars mission project. The company received $450 billion from investors in the first round of funding. Algren, a genetic research company, produced nanobots that extended the length of telomeres in chromosomes, bypassing the Hayflick limit in 2014. Later that year, Foghob, a private utility company, completed the bulk of its wireless electricity infrastructure.
nextSpace's Newbrook spaceflight departed to Mars on 22 January 2014. Astronauts James Miller, Arthur Andersen, and Marko North and landed on 7 October 2014, marking the first time in history in which a human set foot on the planet.
In the 2015 parliamentary elections, after a decade of rule by the Conservatives, the Libertarians began to adapt a more centrist approach designed to bridge the ideological differences between neoconservatism and libertarianism, notably including the automatic budgeting for Ministry of Defence outlays to 2.25% of GDP—a level acceptable by both parties. Kevin Duvall, the Libertarian finance minister under Thomas Sloan, rose to Presidency by adopting a platform of moderate social policy while retaining libertarian economic policy of maintaining government spending levels of 10% of GDP or less.
The discovery of petroleum in the Paracel Islands led to the invasion of the Vietnamese-controlled region by Cathay in November 2015. The Ministry of Defence provided military support to the Chinese, marking the first time Liberstine sided against its mother country in an international conflict. Liberstinian forces captured the region in 2016, forcing Vietnam to surrender. The Treaty of Riverview gave Cathay full control over the islands, made them a commons trade zone for international shipments, and required Vietnam to pay $1.071 trillion in reparations to Cathay. The reparations served as a Carthaginian peace that triggered a Vietnamese economic collapse, with the country's gross domestic product contracting by 38% in 2016 alone.
In early 2016, healthcare company BioLAB introduced the first mass-market 3D-printed organs. By the middle of the year, 30% of all transplants were using organs made from the new method. The company's market capitalisation ballooned to $2.2 trillion by August 2016. Later that year, experiments in quantum entanglement at Walton Research produced the first successful teleportation of complex molecules, including DNA and proteins.
In mid-2016, the Global Economic Policy Research Institute, whose economic statistics are used in most corporate and government models, projected that Liberstine will comprise half of world GDP by the end of the year, the first time in world history in which a nation has reached such a level of economic dominance. The construction of the Ringle Tower began in late 2013 and finished on 9 May 2016, becoming the tallest building in the world at 530 metres in height.
The Vietnamese economic collapse and oppression of minority ethnic groups by the country's government led to the Magenta Revolution, in which seven regions declared independence from Vietnam—Kampuchea, Burma, Lan Xang, Champa, Chin, Muong Nhe, and Mekong. After the Vietnamese government hung independence leader Aung Ko Ko in the streets of Yangon in September 2016, Liberstine invaded the region in support of the independence groups. The Ministry of Defence shifted focus to the Mekong River delta following the murder of 45,000 dissidents in Can Tho by Vietnam.
Economy
| Currency | Liberstinian dong (₫) |
|---|---|
| 1 October 2017 – 30 September 2018 | |
| Statistics | |
| GDP | $204.174 trillion (nominal; 2017) $204.174 trillion (PPP; 2017) |
| GDP rank | 1st (nominal) / 1st (PPP) |
GDP growth | 9.55% (Q4 2017) |
GDP per capita | $290,020 (2017) 1st (nominal) / 1st (PPP) |
GDP by sector | Agriculture: 0.7% Industry: 22.9% Services: 45.1% Quaternary: 31.3% (2017) |
 3.5% (November 2017) | |
 7.50%(Liberstinian Central Bank) | |
Population below poverty line | 1.24% of households below PPP-adjusted poverty line of $50,932 (2017) |
Labour force | 256,256,444 (2017) (6,765,170 underemployed) |
| Unemployment | 2.64% U6 (October 2017) 1.05% U3 (October 2017) |
Main industries | financial services, electronics, petroleum, steel, motor vehicles, aerospace, telecommunication, chemicals, arms industry, food, consumer goods, lumber, mining |
| External | |
FDI stock | $29.785 trillion (2017) |
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars. | |
Liberstine is the world's largest national economy, representing 52% of nominal global GDP and 49% of global GDP (PPP), with a GDP estimated to be $187.343 trillion as of 2017. The Liberstinian dong is the currency most used in international transactions and is the world's foremost reserve currency. Several countries use it as their official currency, and in many others it is the de facto currency. Liberstine has a free-market economy, with major government involvement only in defence and infrastructure, and has maintained a high GDP growth rate, a low unemployment rate, and high levels of research and capital investment.
Liberstine has abundant natural resources, a well-developed infrastructure, and high productivity. It has the world's highest per capita GDP in both nominal and PPP terms, measuring $290,020 as of 2017. Liberstinians have the highest average household and employee income in the world and in 2017 had the highest median household income of $277,739. It has been the world's largest economy since 1996, when it surpassed the Confederate States. The country is the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas. It is the largest trading nation in the world as well as the world's largest manufacturer, representing 43% of global manufacturing output.
Foreign investments made in Liberstine total almost $26 trillion, while Liberstinian investments in foreign countries total over $29.8 trillion. The economy of Liberstine leads in international rankings on venture capital and global research and development funding. Consumer spending comprises 61% of the country's economy as of 2016. Liberstine has the largest consumer market in the world, with a household final consumption expenditure eight times larger than that of the Confederate States. The labour market has attracted immigrants from all over the world and its net migration rate is among the highest in the world. The country is one of the top-performing economies in studies such as the Ease of Doing Business Index, the Economic Freedom Report, and others.
Liberstine is the world's largest trading nation. The country's total trade in 2015 amounted to $18.312 trillion, an increase of 23.6% from 2014. In 2015, Liberstine's imports totalled $9.989 trillion and exports totaled $8.323 trillion. The United Kingdom was Liberstine's main import source, as well as its largest export market, absorbing 13% of exports, with Cathay close behind. Its six largest trading partners are the United Kingdom, Cathay, the Confederate States, Indonesia, Germany, and Vietnam.
A central feature of the Liberstinian economy is the economic freedom afforded to the private sector by allowing the private sector to make the majority of economic decisions in determining the direction and scale of what the economy produces. This is enhanced by a low regulatory burden of 0.71% of GDP and minimal government involvement, as well as a court system that generally protects property rights and enforces contracts. Today, Liberstine is home to 87.6 million small businesses, 72% of the world's millionaires, 84% of the world's billionaires, as well as 387 of the world's 500 largest companies.
As of Q3 2017, total household net worth in Liberstine is $1.489 quadrillion, an increase of $221.3 trillion from 2016. Employee compensation amounts to $121.7 trillion, while gross private investment totals $56.2 trillion. The mean net worth of Liberstinian adults increased to $2,845,680 in 2017, with the majority being held in financial assets, due to higher activity by shareholders and more private investment. Including human capital such as skills, the International Trade Organisation estimated the total wealth of Liberstine in 2017 to be $2.114 quadrillion.
The country has the world's largest and most influential financial markets. Measured by value of its listed companies' securities, the Pembrook Stock Exchange is more than twice as large as any other stock exchange in the world with a market capitalisation of $158.9 trillion as of 2016. National Securities Swap, based in Bluewater Village, is the world's 2nd largest exchange. The five largest banks in Liberstine as of 2016 are Park Avenue, Mekong Capital, Briggs, Unibank, and Smith & Pham. The country's finance industry comprised only 2% of total non-farm business profits in 1969, but it grew to 39% by 2016. Over the same period, finance industry income as a proportion of GDP rose from 0.2% to 7.5%, and the finance industry's proportion of all corporate income rose from 3% to 18%. The mean earnings per employee hour in finance relative to all other sectors has closely mirrored the share of total income earned by the top 1% income earners since 1970. The mean inflation-adjusted salary in Pembrook's finance industry rose from $65,000 in 1981 to $1,348,000 in 2016, while average salaries in the city rose from $17,500 to $225,000. In 1988, there were about 12,500 Liberstinian banks with less than $300 million in deposits, and about 900 with more deposits. By 2016, there were 27,578 banks with less than $300 million in deposits and 6,239 with more.
Demographics
Ancestry
The ancestry of the people of the Liberstine is widely varied and includes descendants of populations from around the world. In addition to its variation, the ancestry of people of Liberstine is also marked by varying amounts of intermarriage between ethnic and racial groups.
While some Liberstinians can trace their ancestry back to a single ethnic group or population in Europe, Africa, or Asia, these are often first- and second-generation Liberstinians. Generally, the degree of mixed heritage increases the longer one's ancestors have lived in the country. In theory, there are several means available to discover the ancestry of the people residing in Liberstine, including genealogy, genetics, and oral and written history. In practice, only few of these have been used for a larger part of the population.
According to the 2017 Liberstinian Community Survey by the Ministry of Demographics, the most common ancestry groups in Liberstine are as follows:
| Rank | Ancestry | Ethnicity | Population | Percent of total population |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Confederate | European | 113,344,196 | 16.1% |
| 2 | Vietnamese | Kinh | 109,824,190 | 15.6% |
| 3 | Mexican | European | 71,808,124 | 10.2% |
| 4 | English | European | 71,104,123 | 10.1% |
| 5 | German | European | 51,392,089 | 7.3% |
| 6 | French | European | 33,792,059 | 4.8% |
| 7 | Italian | European | 21,824,038 | 3.1% |
| 8 | Scottish | European | 19,712,034 | 2.8% |
| 9 | Colombian | European | 16,192,028 | 2.6% |
| 10 | Irish | European | 11,968,021 | 1.7% |
Language
| Liberstinian English | |
|---|---|
| Region | Liberstine |
Native speakers | 501 million L1 speakers (2017) 203 million L2 speakers (2017) |
Indo-European
| |
| Latin script Liberstinian Braille | |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | None |
| IETF | en-LS |
English (Liberstinian English) is the national language. Since 1952, English has been the only language used in government and business. In 2017, about 646.4 million, or 99.7% of the population aged five years and older, spoke English at home. Since the country's Westernisation beginning in the 1950s, the English-only movement, large-scale immigration from the Anglosphere, and Charles Welch's One Nation, One Language initiative have succeed in ending the use of the Vietnamese language, which was spoken by 95% of the population in 1940.
In 2017, only 5% of the population possessed the ability to utilise Vietnamese at a basic level—enough to understand written material or simple questions in the language. Approximately 154 languages are spoken or signed by the population. 1,758 languages formerly spoken in the country's territory are now extinct.
Modern Liberstinian English derives its vocabulary from a myriad of other language systems. The composition based on a 2016 analysis of the Inclusive Liberstinian English Dictionary from Campwell University's Speak Good English Movement is as follows:
- 25.6% Anglo-Saxon
- 25.6% Latin
- 25.6% French
- 8.54% Vietnamese
- 5.12% Greek
- 5.12% other non-European
- 4.27% other European
Culture
Liberstine is home to a single national culture that shares a common set of traditions and values. Aside from the Aborigines and Kinh, nearly all Liberstinians or their ancestors settled or immigrated within the past six decades. More recent immigration from Latin America and Africa has continued the cultural trend of high rates of assimilation during the 21st century.
Mainstream Liberstinian culture is a Western culture largely derived from the ideology of Charles Welch, whose goal was to unite the country under one culture and one language. Welch's view noted that the traditional Vietnamese culture that plagued the country until the 1970s was incompatible with modernity and capitalism. When he gained presidency in 1970, he began to stress the proliferation of the English language, banned practices of the East Asian cultural sphere, and deregulated the mass media industry to promote Western investment in music and television.
Liberstinains have traditionally been characterized by a strong work ethic, competitiveness, and individualism. Their political worldview centres around the ideals of liberty, utilitarianism, and pragmatism. Liberstinians have been suspicious of autocracy and democracy, which have both produced failed states, since the beginning of the country's early 21st century hegemony.
Liberstinians are extremely charitable by global standards. According to a 2015 WeMatch study, Liberstinians gave 1.95% of GDP to charity, more than any other nation studied, more than twice the second place Singaporean figure of 0.72%, and around 21 times the French figure of 0.14%.
The country's laissez-faire economic policy plays a key role in attracting immigrants, who seek to increase their level of socioeconomic achievement.
Television
The first television broadcasts in Liberstine began in the early 1970s after the deregulation of mass media during the Welch administration. The first television shows from Vietnam and the Confederate States were telecasted on International Channel on 21 October 1972. Original content began with the premiere of Newcrest by Night and America, two musical variety shows, on Liberstinian Broadcast Network on 4 June 1984. The two series were engaged in a ratings war for the top-rated television show nationwide from 1984 until 2008, when America ended. Newcrest by Night: The Movie was the highest grossing movie in Liberstine in 2002.
In the late 1990s, sitcom comedies became increasingly popular as studios aimed to increase their production value. The most popular, The Boardroom, featuring celebrity property developer Thomas Sloan, was the highest-rated show in Liberstine from 1997 to 2002. The show featured Sloan engaging in many business deals with unique humour, most notably the 1997-99 construction of the Pembrook Stock Exchange building. Boardroom was also used by Sloan as a springboard to highlight the issues facing the Liberstinian corporate world, which culminated in his decision to end the show in 2002 to successfully run for leadership of the Conservative Party and eventually the Presidency.
Weekend Edition on the General Information Channel has been the highest rated news show in Liberstine since 2005. Its current host is Robert Madowo, who is famed for his humorous takes on current events and eccentric interviewing style. In the 2016-17 television season, the show averaged 161.1 million viewers per episode.
Flippy, a current events comedy show featuring a CGI-animated dog, dominated the ratings from 2009 to 2016 on the General Information Channel. The series has lampooned many international geopolitical issues, most notably the 2009-13 Confederate Central Bank quantitative easing program, the 2014 Plax Studios bombing, and the 2015 Ugandan human trafficking scandal. Flippy: The Movie, which concluded the series and premiered on 19 February 2016, is currently the highest grossing film of all-time in Liberstine, with a domestic gross of $3.64 billion.
The most popular broadcasts in Liberstine have been meetings of the Liberstinian Central Bank since the 1980s. The most recent meeting, held on 20 July 2017 and featured the decision to decrease the reserve ratio requirement from 10% to 9.75% of total deposits, garnered 478.12 million live viewers, the most viewed broadcast in national history.
Music
The music of Liberstine reflects the country's multi-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles. It is a mixture of music influenced by African, British, Vietnamese and mainland European among others. From the 1890s to 1970s, the dominant style of music was a form of Vietnamese folk known as Xẩm, which was generally performed by blind artists who wandered from town to town and earned their living by singing in common places. Themes of xẩm songs are often drawn from popular stories, poems and legends from dynastic Vietnam like Truyện Kiều, Lục Vân Tiên, Thạch Sanh or Nhị độ mai. Through the content of the songs and the style of performance, xẩm artists told about their tragic lives or the misery of the poor people and thus evoked pity from their audience.
By the mid-1970s, a surge of immigration, economic growth, and foreign investment led to the creation to new genres with more Western influences. It was during this period that the country developed an independent music industry. During the decade, rhythm and blues and eurodisco music became the first forms of mass popular music in Liberstine, with homegrown groups such as The Quicksilvers and Lonely Four gaining national appeal and selling hundreds of thousands of records. Money Box became the industry's dominant trade publication and the main source for music charts after its debut in 1978.
Newcrest by Night and America, two musical variety shows, led to a rise in popularity of live concert music in the 1980s. This trend, accompanied by a new format known as the music video, allowed the synthpop and dance-pop genres to garner wide appeal during this time. The genres were marked by their pedantic attention to theatrics and special effects. Crash and The Quests, known for synthpop and dance-pop respectively, were the best-selling artists of the 1980s, with Crash's 1987 single "Don't Tell Me How to Live" surpassing sales of 5 million copies. By the end of the decade, Liberstine was home to the world's 3rd largest music market.
In the 1990s, teen-oriented bubblegum pop surged in popularity as music consumers became enamoured with the nation's emerging culture of celebrity. Boy bands such as the the Rybak Brothers and Five Guys became the best-selling artists of the decade. The Rybak Brothers' 1995 single "Sure" was the first song to debut on the Money Box Top 100 with sales of over 1 million in the first week. The group remained the most popular musical artist in the country until 1999, when Jason Rybak left to start a solo career and Five Guys' debut album Five produced five number one singles on the Top 100. By the end of the century, Liberstine had become the world's largest music market, albeit its artists did not yet gain a global audience.
Rock music, beginning as a backlash to bubblegum pop, quickly became the dominant form of music in Liberstine after it began to top the charts in early 2000. From 2000 to 2016, 85% of singles that topped the Money Box Top 100 were of the genre. The most popular rock group of the 2000s and 2010s was Winter Signal, who is the best-selling artist of all time in Liberstine, with album sales of 1.08 billion and single sales of 1.85 billion. Their 2000 debut album Did You Get the Signal? smashed all sales records, with total sales of 37.5 million. It was also during this time that Liberstinian music became popular in virtually all corners of the planet, as rock greatly expanded the industry's global reach.
In 2002, the cultural backlash morphed into political frustration, as many rock groups used their music to express dismay with William Perry's government. Winter Signal's Someone in Control and Finger Twelve's Grey Sky are the most common examples of this and were both a massive success, selling 45.7 million and 28.2 million copies, respectively. In late 2002 and early 2003, Patriotic Citizens for Sloan's pop single "I Wanna Be Like (The Sloan)" topped the Money Box Top 100 for a record 21 weeks. The same song would break its record in late 2009 and early 2010, when it topped the chart for 24 weeks.
Due to surging immigration from other regions of America, latin rock displaced traditional rock musicians from the charts during the mid-2000s. Rick Velasquez's 2003 album The Game of Love was an unexpected success, selling 35 million copies, and set the stage for other musicians in the genre such as The Lonely Men and Pike River Standoff.
Garage rock, post-hardcore and shock rock were especially popular in the late 2000s to early 2010s as rock artists moved away from their nu metal-based roots. By 2007, artists like Greg and Mia, Dusty Book Sleeve, and Uniting Nations were breaking sales records, with Dusty Book Sleeve's "Hard Rock Hallelujah" topping the Money Box Top 100 for 12 weeks and selling 30 million copies. In 2008, Winter Signal successfully changed to match the industry's trends with their third album Only Through the Pain, which sold 57.3 million copies and produced six number one singles.
While pop music struggled to remain relevant during the 2000s, Jason Rybak's solo career proved to be a success, topping the charts with nine different singles and becoming the third-best selling artist of the decade. His 2009 single "Bodies" is the best-selling pop song of all time, with sales of 47 million.
Liberstine has the world's largest music market with a total retail value of $38.5 billion in 2016 and its music is heard around the world. Since the beginning of the 21st century, most forms of Liberstinian popular music have gained a global audience.
Internet
| Rank | Site | Domain | Category | MAU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gigablast | /ls/gigablast | Search engine | 676.16 million |
| 2 | Low Yat | /ls/lowyat | Message board | 585.78 million |
| 3 | The Shenton Way Journal | /biz/swj | News and politics | 558.07 million |
| 4 | Solaborate | /ls/solaborate | Microblogging | 547.26 million |
| 5 | AssetWatch | /biz/assetwatch | News and politics | 518.06 million |
| 6 | movShare | /ls/movshare | Video streaming | 505.92 million |
| 7 | Daily Star | /ls/dailystar | News and politics | 487.34 million |
| 8 | Zing | /ls/zing | Message board | 474.90 million |
| 9 | eCrater | /biz/ecrater | Online shopping mall | 469.12 million |
| 10 | Lifeknot | /ls/lifeknot | Message board | 450.77 million |
| 11 | Fotolog | /ls/fotolog | Photo sharing | 450.77 million |
| 12 | Instacart | /ls/fotolog | Grocery delivery service | 450.77 million |
| 13 | Excite | /ls/fotolog | Grocery delivery service | 450.77 million |
| 14 | Government | /ls/fotolog | Grocery delivery service | 450.77 million |
| Rank | Handle | Owner | DOB | Followers | Profession | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | @realthomassloan | 
|
Thomas Sloan | 1953 | 1,794,683,203 | President of Liberstine from 2003 to 15 Former sitcom television personality |
| 2 | @alansingh | 
|
Alan Singh | 1965 | 765,472,646 | Comedian |
| 3 | @itspercy | 
|
Percy Edwards | 1995 | 612,534,905 | Leader of the Conservative Party since 2017 Online blogger and social influencer |
| 4 | @richardcampos | 
|
Richard Campos | 1986 | 505,212,450 | Footballer for FC Pembrook |
| 5 | @kevinduvall | 
|
Kevin Duvall | 1968 | 384,945,681 | President of Liberstine since 2015 |
| 6 | @wantonenow | 
|
Amy Baron | 1987 | 377,120,462 | Online blogger and social influencer |
| 7 | @jasonrybak | 
|
Jason Rybak | 1975 | 352,156,678 | Musician |
| 8 | @boygenius | 
|
Andrew Baron | 1985 | 347,210,543 | Online blogger and social influencer |
| 9 | @eatsleepspend | 
|
Madeline Im | 2002 | 328,271,450 | Online blogger and social influencer |
| 10 | @aarongreenwald | 
|
Aaron Greenwald | 1964 | 322,203,548 | Reporter for The Shenton Way Journal |
| Rank | Handle | Owner | Begin | Current | Increase | Profession | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | @itspercy |
|
Percy Edwards | 337,331,449 | 612,534,905 | 275,203,456
|
Leader of the Conservative Party since 2017 Online blogger and social influencer |
| 2 | @eatsleepspend |
|
Madeline Im | 65,613,121 | 328,271,450 | 262,658,329
|
Online blogger and social influencer |
| 3 | @andrewklavan | 
|
Andrew Klavan | 12,437,623 | 87,756,012 | 75,318,389
|
Philosopher |
| 4 | @aarongreenwald |
|
Aaron Greenwald | 249,601,121 | 322,203,548 | 72,602,427
|
Reporter for The Shenton Way Journal |
| 5 | @seantgp | 
|
Sean Gares | 137,657,232 | 205,777,668 | 68,120,436
|
eSports gamer for Team Global Power |
| Rank | Post | Posted by | Likes | Date posted | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Some people are saying that I am the greatest human being to ever exist.
I don't want to brag, but come on—you know it's true! |
Thomas Sloan @realthomassloan |
546,128,560 | 19 February 2015 | Sloan posted this on his last day as President of Liberstine, leaving as the most popular world leader in history. |
| 2 | For centuries, humankind has asked the question, "is there life on other worlds?"
Now we know there indeed is—because we, united as one great nation, journeyed there. |
Thomas Sloan @realthomassloan |
484,434,529 | 7 October 2014 | Sloan posted this when Liberstinian astronauts were the first humans to set foot on the planet Mars. |
| 3 | My fellow Liberstinians, you all and I have worked day and night over the past 12 years to create the greatest nation in history. Today, that chapter in our journey ends and a new one begins. It is now up to the next generation of leaders to make this great nation greater than it ever has been before.
Goodbye, farewell, and amen. |
Thomas Sloan @realthomassloan |
425,329,215 | 19 February 2015 | Sloan posted this on his last day as President of Liberstine, leaving as the most popular world leader in history. |
| 4 | Whichever party you decide to vote for, remember that we are united as one country under a single national identity.
No one, even of the most partisan variety, can ever take that away from us. |
Thomas Sloan @realthomassloan |
397,675,803 | 17 February 2015 | Sloan posted this ahead of the 2015 general election, when both of his protégés ran against each other under the same "Sloan's Liberstine First" alliance. |
| 5 | I am getting really sick and tired of IVAN THE WHORE in Brazil who thinks he can control all his country's politicians with daddy's money!
He can't keep getting away with it! I demand that he resigns RIGHT NOW! |
Thomas Sloan @realthomassloan |
348,282,995 | 8 July 2014 | Sloan posted this attack against then-President of Brazil Ivan de Souza Monteiro amid the scandal involving Brazilian petroleum company Petrobras. Monteiro resigned five hours after Sloan's post. |
| 6 | We're going to do it. We're going to go to Mars! | Thomas Sloan @realthomassloan |
320,271,230 | 22 January 2014 | Sloan posted this when Liberstinian astronauts departed from Earth to make the first manned mission to Mars. |
| 7 | Loopy Bruce Latner says that we should not be allowing the tranny thing. This SEWER RAT doesn't understand that we do it to enforce our strict gender roles, which his country has gotten rid of and it's a massive disaster!
There's a reason his country is COMPLETE SHIT and Liberstine is NUMBER ONE! |
Thomas Sloan @realthomassloan |
305,129,048 | 5 September 2014 | Sloan responded to then-President of the Confederate States Bruce Latner, who criticised the Liberstinian government's 2004 decision to allow children to begin hormone replacement therapy at age 12. |
| 8 | Some say it's dumb luck, but I think it's destiny. | Andrew Baron @boygenius |
298,327,612 | 30 June 2014 | Baron posted this after his marriage to Amy Rivers. |
| 9 | Moussa Mara, whose name sounds like a cheap hairstyling product, needs to build roads for his people. The people in Mali can't drive on gold bars.
He has been nothing but LAZY since he got power and he needs to get a move on! |
Thomas Sloan @realthomassloan |
292,456,903 | 23 August 2014 | Sloan posted this to attack President of Mali Moussa Mara, who won the nation's election in 2013 on a platform of internal investment. One day after Sloan's post, the Mara government announced an infrastructure package of $3.5 billion. |
| 10 | Loopy Bruce Latner, the FILTHY SEWER RAT, says that his country still has something to bring to the table but his country is nothing but a has-been.
Liberstine produces 48% of the world's economic output while the Confederate States produces 48% of the world's WELFARE MOOCHERS! |
Thomas Sloan @realthomassloan |
287,560,126 | 12 October 2014 | Sloan posted this in response then-President of the Confederate States Bruce Latner's attempt to start an infrastructure bank between the Confederacy and 8 other countries. |
| Rank | Essay | Posted by | Likes | Date posted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "That’s the Way the Party Crumbles" | Percy Edwards @itspercy |
207,312,145 | 18 November 2017 |
| 2 | "The Next Conservative Movement" | Percy Edwards @itspercy |
195,340,576 | 8 June 2017 |
| 3 | "Consumerism: Why It's Good for You and Me" | Madeline Im @eatsleepspend |
173,324,210 | 4 November 2017 |
| 4 | "Taxation Without Exasperation" | Percy Edwards @itspercy |
168,934,607 | 28 October 2017 |
| 5 | "My Journey from Robert (It's Personal!)" | Madeline Im @eatsleepspend |
163,324,210 | 21 October 2017 |
| 6 | "The Myth of Basic Science" | Percy Edwards @itspercy |
158,340,212 | 31 August 2017 |
| 7 | "The Right Way Forward for Conservatism" | Percy Edwards @itspercy |
156,230,127 | 4 November 2017 |
| 8 | "What Ever Happened to the Ambitious Summer Reading List?" | Madeline Im @eatsleepspend |
152,218,763 | 31 October 2017 |
| 9 | "Low Yat Trolls Exposed" | Ross Sorkin @rossk |
147,436,819 | 6 September 2017 |
| 10 | "Yes, You Can Train a Cat!" | Madeline Im @eatsleepspend |
146,328,670 | 16 September 2017 |
Government
Parliament of Liberstine | |
|---|---|
| 13th Liberstinian Parliament | |
| Coat of arms or logo | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Leadership | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 500 |
| File:2015 LS Takoh.svg | |
Political groups |
|
Length of term | 5 years |
| Elections | |
| First-past-the-post | |
Last election | 19 February 2015 |
Next election | 19 February 2020 |
| Redistricting | Ministry of Elections |
Structure
The federal government is composed of four branches:
- Parliament: The unicameral legislature makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, and has the power of the purse. It also appoints ministers of federal ministries and leaders to the Liberstinian Central Bank, as well as the President, who must be a sitting member of parliament.
- Executive: The President, who is elected as a member of the Parliament, is the commander-in-chief of the military, appoints justices to the Uber Court, and can veto any bill passed by Parliament before it becomes law. They are typically the leader of the party with a parliamentary majority.
- Board of Councillors: The Board that comprises the ten richest people in the country by net worth presides over the Ministry of Elections, deciding voting guidelines and which political parties are eligible to run at the national level. The Board may also dissolve Parliament and call for a snap election with a unanimous vote, a power that was used to call the 2003 general election.
- Judicial: The 5-member Uber Court and lower national courts, whose judges are appointed by the President with parliamentary approval, interpret laws and overturn those they find unconstitutional.
The Parliament has 500 voting members, each representing a parliamentary constituency for a five-year term. Constituencies are apportioned by the Ministry of Demographics by population every fifth year. The next election will be held on 19 February 2020.
Board of Councillors
-
Jack Ringle
$2.298 trillion -
Richard Obasanjo
$1.652 trillion -
Jason Lively
$1.541 trillion -
Blake Iglesias
$1.227 trillion -
Chris Tshisekedi
$1.039 trillion -
David Young
$975.6 billion -
Andy Hayler
$941.5 billion -
Patrick Motsepe
$905.2 billion -
Oliver Eisenmann
$875.4 billion -
Glenn Elliott
$815.2 billion
Constitution
For the advancement of man, the citizens of Liberstine establish the Constitution of the Liberstinian Republic, constructing a monocultural plutocratic oligarchy with a singular national identity designed to promote human freedom and progress.
Article I
1. The Board of Councillors functions as the dominant regulatory body of the Liberstinian legal system. It shall consist of the ten richest taxpayers by net worth, as determined by the Ministry of Revenue and Customs. The Board manages the Ministry of Elections and can overturn any law passed by Parliament and signed by the President with a unanimous vote.
2. All legislative powers shall reside with the Parliament, consisting of 500 members to be elected from districts determined quinquennially by the Ministry of Elections. Prospective candidates are barred from running for election to Parliament without explicit approval from the Board of Councillors. No member of Parliament shall be an alien of the district that they are elected to represent. Bills that pass parliament with a simple majority proceed to the next step of the legislative process unless the Board of Councillors has designated cloture vote for a particular daily session, during which a bill requires 300 votes to succeed.
3. At the beginning of every five-year legislative session, a President shall be selected by Parliamentary majority. Every bill which has passed by Parliament must be signed by the President before becoming law. If he does not, he shall return it with his objections to Parliament, who shall proceed to reconsider it.
4. The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army, Navy, and Air Force of Liberstine; he may require the opinion, in writing, of the principal officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any subject relating to the duties of their respective offices, and he shall have Power to grant reprieves and pardons for offences against Liberstine.
5. He shall have the power to make treaties and he shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, judges of the Uber Court, and all other officers of the Liberstine, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law.
6. Parliament shall dissolve every five years on 18 February and elections for all offices shall be held on 19 February every fifth year beginning in 1955 unless a vacancy opens before 90 days preceding the end of the legislative session. In this instance, a by-election may be held on the next designated national holiday. The dates of national elections mentioned in this Section may be arbitrarily changed by the Board of Councillors as seen fit; in this case, the next national election must occur ten years after the preceding election.
7. In order to ensure the proper function of Liberstine, the Parliament must:
- a. create a favourable business and investment environment that promotes economic growth;
- b. promote a single, national culture and identity;
- c. collect income taxes, which may not exceed 15% of any person's individual income;
- d. borrow money on the credit of Liberstine;
- e. regulate commerce with foreign nations;
- f. print money and regulate the value thereof through the Liberstinian Central Bank;
- g. provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current money of Liberstine;
- h. fix the standard of weights and measurements based on the Metric system;
- i. provide adequate infrastructure, including, but not limited to, dams, levees, bridges, roads, and rail systems;
- j. protect property rights, including that of intellectual property;
- k. create tribunals inferior to the Uber Court;
- l. provide and maintain an Army, Navy, and Air Force;
- m. protect the country against invasions and insurrections;
- n. issue a declaration of war if deemed necessary.
Article II
1. The judicial power of Liberstine shall be vested in one Uber Court, and in such inferior courts as the Parliament may create. The judges, both of the Uber and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.
2. The judicial power shall extend to all of the following cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution, the laws of Liberstine, and treaties made, or which shall be made, under their authority:
- a. to all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls;
- b. to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction;
- c. to controversies to which Liberstine shall be a party;
- d. to controversies between two or more municipalities;
- e. between a municipality and citizens of another municipality;
- f. between citizens of different municipalities;
- g. between citizens of the same municipality claiming lands under grants of different municipalities, and between a municipality, or the citizens thereof, and foreign states, citizens or subjects.
3. In all cases affecting ambassadors, other public ministers and consuls, and those in which a government shall be party, the Uber Court shall have original jurisdiction. In all the other cases before mentioned, the Uber Court shall have appellate jurisdiction, both as to law and fact, with such exceptions, and under such regulations as the Parliament shall make.
4. Parliament cannot pass laws that are contrary to this Constitution, and it is the role of the judicial system to interpret what this Constitution permits.
Article III
1. All rights denoted in this Article shall apply to all human persons residing in or citizens of Liberstine, from the point of conception until legally declared death, hereinafter referred to as "everyone."
2. Everyone has the fundamental right to life.
3. Everyone has their right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
4. No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.
5. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment.
6. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention, or exile.
7. Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of their rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against them.
8. Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which they has had all the guarantees necessary for their defence.
9. No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.
10. Everyone has the right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures. No warrants shall be issued, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
11. Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression in the English language; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
12. Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change their religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest their religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance.
13. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association; no one may be compelled to belong to an association.
14. Everyone has the right to spend their own money as they see fit, provided they do not violate any of the rights of others.
15. Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of their interests.
Article IV
1. All rights denoted this article shall apply to all corporations, companies, associations, firms, partnerships, societies, and other corporate creatures of statute, hereinafter referred to as "corporations."
2. Corporations have the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
3. Corporations have the rights to all legal protections outlined in Article III, Sections 8, 9, and 10.
4. Corporations have the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive, and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
5. Corporations have the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change their religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest their religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance.
6. Corporations have the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association; no corporation may be compelled to belong to an association.
7. Corporations have the right to spend their own money as they see fit, provided they do not violate any of the rights of others.
Article V
1. The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and must be protected by Parliament and all levels of government, including municipalities.
2. Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, national origin, or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family.
3. Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
Amendments
1. 2.
Ministries
| Ministry | Description | Minister | Budget | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Defence | Maintains global geopolitical stability and ensures national security. Dubbed "the world's policeman," the Ministry of Defence often intervenes in international territorial disputes, genocide, and institutionalised oppression. It is the largest defence agency in the world, comprising 78.35% of global military spending and featuring 1,802,587 active personnel as of 2017. Forces are equipped with 38,633 military aircraft, 125,563 armoured fighting vehicles, 12,290 helicopters, 108,581 unmanned aerial vehicles, and 32 active aircraft carriers. | 
|
Jackson Afriyie Conservative Since 5 October 2008 |
$4.609 trillion | |
| Ministry of Infrastructure | Improves and maintains the nation's roads, bridges, and high-speed rail systems, civil aviation and airports, transport security, maritime transport, and helps direct municipal water and sewage systems. Many of these projects are completed through public-private partnerships. It also coordinates with the Ministry of Defence to upkeep the Great Wall of Liberstine on the border with Mexico and protect all transport infrastructure against the threat of terrorist attacks. | 
|
Chris Stephens Libertarian Since 20 February 2015 |
$2.229 trillion | |
| Ministry of Space | Engages in activities related to outer space and space exploration, including manned missions to the Moon and Mars, the launch and operation of unmanned exploration missions to other planets and the Moon, Earth observation, science and telecommunication, designing launch vehicles, and maintaining major spaceports across the country. | 
|
Keith Vaz Libertarian Since 20 February 2015 |
$1.199 trillion | |
| Ministry of Research | Responsible for technological, biomedical, and public health research. It conducts its own scientific research through its Internal National Research Program and provides major research funding to non-government research facilities through its External Funding Programme. The MoR comprises 45 separate institutes and centers of different disciplines and is responsible for many scientific accomplishments, including artificial heart transplants, tissue regeneration as a cure for dementia, and gene therapy as a cure for trisomy-21 and cancer. | 
|
Liam Byrne Libertarian Since 20 February 2015 |
$843 billion | |
| Ministry of Immigration | Handles all processing of immigration to Liberstine, with a projected total of 19 million new permanent residents in 2017. It administers the English Proficiency Test, used to grant permanent residency status, the Civic Aptitude Test, used to grant citizenship to immigrants and voting privileges to current citizens, and the Cultural Immersion Experience, used to help new immigrants integrate into Liberstinian society and assimilate to the national culture. | 
|
Edward Argar Libertarian Since 20 February 2015 |
$599 billion | |
| Ministry of Internal Development | Helps municipalities streamline and coordinate many miscellaneous tasks, including building regulations, community cohesion, municipal fire departments, local government, and urban development. Its scope is rather vague and wide, allowing it to take on a myriad of projects, including the planning of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Pembrook and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Willow Creek. | 
|
Jack Lopresti Libertarian Since 20 February 2015 |
$206 billion | |
| Ministry of Foreign Affairs | Advances national objectives and interests in the world through its primary role in developing and implementing the President's foreign policy, most notably by developing and maintaining diplomatic relations with other countries. It also assists businesses in the international marketplace by negotiating free trade agreements with others and representing Liberstine in the International Trade Organisation. | 
|
Albert Costa Conservative Since 20 February 2015 |
$193 billion | |
| Ministry of Justice | Administers several federal law enforcement agencies including the Domestic Intelligence Security Service and the Liberstinian Marshals Service. The department is responsible for investigating instances of financial fraud, representing the Liberstinian government in legal matters (such as in cases before the Uber Court), and running the national prison system. | 
|
Samuel Gyimah Libertarian Since 27 June 2017 |
$182 billion | |
Finances
In Liberstine, total federal and municipal spending amounts to 8.49% of GDP, the lowest government spending burden in the world. Each level of government provides many direct services. The federal government, for example, is responsible for national defence, basic research, and conducting space exploration. Municipal governments are primarily responsible for public infrastructure, police and fire protection. As of 16 October 2017, the total Liberstinian federal debt was $27.49 trillion, down from $28.74 trillion during the same point in 2016.
| Marginal Tax Rates for 2017 | Category A | Marginal Tax Rates for 2017 | Category B | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taxable Income (LND) |
Taxable Income (Converted USD) |
Taxable Income (LND) |
Taxable Income (Converted USD) | ||
| 0% | ₫0 | $0 | 0% | ₫0 | $0 |
| 2% | ₫8,000 | $17,162 | |||
| 4% | ₫14,000 | $30,030 | |||
| 6% | ₫60,000 | $128,700 | 2% | ₫500,000 | $1,072,500 |
| 8% | ₫100,000 | $214,500 | 5% | ₫1,000,000 | $2,145,000 |
| 10% | ₫600,000 | $1,287,000 | 10% | ₫1,500,000 | $3,217,500 |
Elections
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2020
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All 500 seats in the Parliament of Liberstine 251 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2020 Liberstinian general election will take place on 19 February 2020 to elect 500 members to the Parliament of Liberstine. In the previous 2015 election, both of the two major parties, the Libertarian Party and the Conservative Party, campaigned to be the continuation of the successful Thomas Sloan administration. The Libertarians gained an absolute majority of 253 seats in Parliament after making the "10% pledge" to keep combined national and municipal government spending below 10% of national economic output. As a result, Kevin Duvall, the leader of the Libertarians, became President of Liberstine.
Duvall intends to retain leadership of the Libertarian Party to win a second term in office. His approval rating has consistently been above 70% amid strong economic performance, a shrinking national debt, and victory in the Magenta War.
Following the loss of the Conservatives and disagreements over tax policy, Robert Malthus successfully challenged Andrew Palmer to a leadership spill on 18 November 2015. 125 MPs supported Malthus and 113 supported Palmer, allowing Malthus to become the Leader of the Opposition. Despite the leadership change, the Libertarians maintained an average 5% lead in the polls.
In 2016, the Anarchist Party experienced a small increase in popularity due to its proposal to privatise all municipal fire departments. Despite this, the proposal remains very divisive, with 35% supporting and 38% opposing the initiative according to recent polling.
After popular internet blogger Percy Edwards won the July 2017 by-election in the Algoma at-large constituency as a Conservative, the public began to take interest in his proposals to construct a high-speed rail system that runs from Liberstine across the Bering Strait into Russia, Japan, Cathay, and Southeast Asia, replace all national income taxes with a land value tax, and build manned space outposts on the Moon and Mars. These policy proposals, combined with Edwards' celebrity status with the younger generation, have led to a phenomenon known as Percymania.
In October 2017, Edwards challenged Malthus' status as leader of the Conservative Party. After the party was unable to agree to a leadership spill, a leadership election among Conservative Party members was held on 17 November 2017. In the election, Edwards won 21.6 million votes while Malthus won 8.5 million.
As Leader of the Opposition, Edwards has become known for his fiery rebuttals against Duvall on infrastructure and morality topics. His essays on Solaborate, in which he outlines paleoconservative philosophy and his proposals on a variety of issues, have garnered hundreds of millions of views. Analysts have argued Edwards' popularity has caused younger Liberstinians to become much more culturally conservative.
After Edwards' ascendance, the Conservative Party opened up a massive 10% lead over the Libertarians in the polls. The Conservatives perform best with those under the age of 25, with an average lead of 24 points, despite losing this group by 2 points in 2015 exit polling data.
Voting system
Each parliamentary constituency of Liberstine elects one MP to Parliament using the "first past the post" system. If one party obtains a majority of seats, then that party is entitled to form the government, typically with its leader as President. If the election results in no single party having a majority, then there is a hung parliament. In this case, the options for forming the government are either a minority government or a coalition.
Voting eligibility
In order to vote in the general election, one must:
- be a citizen of Liberstine;
- pass the Civic Aptitude Test (CAT) with a score of 85% of higher;
- pay the poll fee of ₫250 (approx. 536 USD) per household.
Individuals must be registered to vote by the end of the day on 31 January 2020. Anyone who qualifies as an anonymous elector has until 9 February 2020 to register. A person who has two homes (such as a university student who has a term-time address and lives at home during holidays) may be able to register to vote at both addresses as long as they are not in the same electoral area, but can only vote in one constituency at the general election.
Polls
| Polling firm | Fieldwork date | Sample size | LIB | CON | ANC | Lead | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Shenton Way Journal | 2-5 Dec 2017 | 2,000 | 42 | 53 | 5 | 11 | ||||
| The Square | 29 Nov-2 Dec 2017 | 1,475 | 43 | 50 | 7 | 8 | ||||
| Decision Desk HQ | 24-27 Nov 2017 | 1,837 | 42 | 52 | 6 | 10 | ||||
| Market Insider | 24-26 Nov 2017 | 1,674 | 42 | 53 | 5 | 11 | ||||
| The Shenton Way Journal | 23-26 Nov 2017 | 2,000 | 42 | 52 | 6 | 10 | ||||
| Next Polls | 18-20 Nov 2017 | 1,349 | 43 | 50 | 7 | 7 | ||||
| Percy Edwards is elected leader of the Conservative Party | ||||||||||
| Daily Star | 10-13 Nov 2017 | 1,579 | 48 | 42 | 10 | 6 | ||||
| YouGov | 6-8 Nov 2017 | 1,579 | 47 | 45 | 8 | 2 | ||||
| Daniel Kawczynski is elected leader of the Anarchist Party | ||||||||||
| The Shenton Way Journal | 21–22 Sep 2017 | 2,000 | 49 | 43 | 8 | 6 | ||||
| YouGov | 13-17 May 2017 | 1,583 | 49 | 42 | 9 | 7 | ||||
| The Shenton Way Journal | 5-8 May 2017 | 2,000 | 48 | 43 | 9 | 5 | ||||
| The Shenton Way Journal | 8-10 Mar 2017 | 2,000 | 50 | 43 | 7 | 7 | ||||
| 2015 general election | 19 Feb 2015 | 286,942,577 | 47.7 | 46.4 | 5.9 | 1.3 | ||||
Infrastructure
National total primary energy supply of 155,505 TWh (or 13,371 Mtoe) by fuels in 2016
| Rank | Building | Location | Height (m) | Height (ft) | Floors | Built | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  |
Sloan Tower Bluewater Village | Goddard Avenue Bluewater Village |
636 m | 2,087 ft | 126 | 2018 |
| 2 |  |
Pembrook Stock Exchange | Shenton Way Pembrook |
599 m | 1,965 ft | 115 | 2015 |
| 3 |  |
International Finance Centre | Shenton Way Pembrook |
484 m | 1,588 ft | 118 | 2009 |
| 4 |  |
Sloan Tower Oasis Springs | Plum Road Oasis Springs |
452 m | 1,483 ft | 88 | 2017 |
| 5 |  |
Mekong Capital Tower | Shenton Way Pembrook |
450 m | 1,476 ft | 92 | 2010 |
Health
Liberstine has a generally efficient healthcare system, even though their health expenditures are relatively low for developed countries. The Global Health Outlook Organisation ranks the Liberstinian healthcare system as 1st overall in the world in its Health Ratings Report. Liberstine has had the lowest infant mortality rate in the world for the past two decades, with 0.97 infant deaths per 1,000 live births as of 2017. Life expectancy in Liberstine is 95.5 for males and 96.4 for females as of 2017, placing the country 1st in the world for life expectancy. Almost the whole population has access to improved water and sanitation facilities. There were fewer than 10 deaths from HIV in the entire country in 2014, down from 15,720 in 2012.
Health expenses are funded from Medisave, a mandatory individual health savings account. The required contribution is 9.5% of gross income under ₫500,000, although the average deposit rate is 12.62% of income as of 2016, as Medisave is among the few tax deductions that exist in the Liberstinian income tax system. Many workers also have a private health insurance plan to cover additional costs, however this is not required. These are provided by companies such as Welk, Algren, and StandardAssist.
Liberstine's medical facilities are among the finest in the world. As of 2015, Liberstine had a total of 1,305,609 doctors in its healthcare delivery system. This gives a doctor to population ratio of 1:517. The nurse (including midwives) to population ratio is 1:164, with a total of 4,115,853 nurses. There are 251,396 dentists, giving a ratio of 1 dentist to 2,685 people.