The United States of Aarde is a huge, cultured nation, remarkable for its pith helmet sales, sprawling nuclear power plants, and restrictive gun laws. The hard-nosed, devout population of 315 million Aardens are prohibited from doing almost everything except voting, which they do timidly and conservatively.

The enormous, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Education, Law & Order, and Defense. The average income tax rate is 66.5%, and even higher for the wealthy.

The sizeable but underdeveloped Aarden economy, worth 10.9 trillion Dollars a year, is quite specialized and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Tourism and Door-to-door Insurance Sales. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 34,625 Dollars, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Immigrant herding has become a national pastime, Leader can cry on demand, Aardens incessantly needle their doctors for relief, and billions of Dollars are being poured into a space program. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a very well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Aarde's national animal is the Bald Eagle, which soars majestically through the nation's famously clear skies.

Aarde is ranked 91,619^th in the world and 2,188^th in The North Pacific for Most Patriotic, with 15.98 flags saluted per person per day.