Factbook of The Lone Star Republic
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Official Name: The Lone Star People's Republic of the Greater Southwest
Common name(s): Lone Star Republic(shorthand,) LSR(abbreviated,) Texas(unofficial)
Demonym: Lone Star Republican,(formal) Peep (informal) Texan (archaic)
Motto: Come and take it.
Anthem: Star of Courage.
Capital: Austin
Largest Cities: Houston, Denver, Dallas, San Antonio, El Paso, New Orleans, Salt Lake City.
Population: 97,450,000 (as of 2010 census.)
Demographics:37% Hispanic 22% White 20% Mixed (or Multi-Ethnicity) 13% Asian 8% Black
GDP (in RL USD): 3.656 trillion
HDI: 0.841(Very High)
State Religion: None, however freedom of religion is guaranteed by the LSR Mandate.
Largest Religion: Roman Catholicism (22%)
National Languages: English (official,) Spanish, Korean (widely used.)
Governmental type: Socialist Federal Republic (non marxist-leninist, a-la Tito-era Yugoslavia.) Single-party socialist state with parliamentary elections.
Head of State & Government: Prime Minister (elected by parliament by raw vote, with a 6 year mandate.)
Prime Minister: Her Right Honorable Crystal Delgado (think brunette, firebrand, democratic socialist young-Thatcher.)
Military:
575k Active Manpower with 2-4 years compulsory service in People's Lone Star Army, Navy, Air Force, and Riverine Militia.
2.7m Reserve
12m Fit for Duty
4.2% expenditure of GDP
All roles open to M/F.
Military Tech Level:
Analogous to Modern Day IRL China / India. Transitioning from Soviet-era technology and training to equipment and expertise provided by states similar to IRL: France, Sweden, Modern Russia. Developing advanced programs in conjunction with whatever second-tier global power emerges, but not the superpower(s). The LSR neither confirms or denies that it is a nuclear weapons state, however it's commonly assumed by the international community that a contingency stockpile exists, given the state of LSR technology, infrastructure, and political will. Intelligence community analysts have taken notice that the LSR has placed a large order of Tu-160 Strategic Bombers from the world arms market. The main infantry weapon is the AK-200, which is starting to replace the AK-47/74.
Environment:
Arid to Semi-Arid outside of Texas, except for the mountainous regions of Old Colorado. LSR Core (Old Texas) is mostly humid-subtropical. Louisiana is even more tropical. Oklahoma mostly grassy plains.
Economy:
The LSR's large population, abundance of natural resources, and diverse population and geography have led to a large and diverse economy. An energy power-house of the North American Continent, the LSR and Greater Southwest holds a verifiable reserve of 8-9 billion barrels of easily accessed crude, and hundreds of billions of barrels in the much more complex oil shale regions of Texas and Colorado. More efficient extraction of oil shale is the driving force of the LSR economy today. Automobile manufacturing is also a sizeable part of the economy, as is health-care, and the financial sector.
The LSR is a leader in renewable energy sources; it produces the most wind power on the continent. The Roscoe Wind Farm in Roscoe, LSR Core / Old Texas, is the world's largest wind farm as of October 2009 with a 781.5 megawatt (MW) capacity. The state also has the highest solar power potential for development on the continent, according to a cross-continental survey.
Austin, the nation's capitol is a fast-growing and prosperous high-tech hub, earning the region the nickname "Sillicon Hills."
Unemployment holds steady at 5.4%, it's literacy rate at 98%, and average expected life-span of 84 years old male, 86 years old female.
