The Republic of August 8 is a very large, safe nation, notable for its smutty television, frequent executions, and public floggings. The hard-nosed population of 322 million August 8ians are highly moralistic and fiercely conservative, in the sense that they tend to believe most things should be outlawed. People who have good jobs and work quietly at them are lauded; others are viewed with suspicion.

The medium-sized government juggles the competing demands of Defense, Law & Order, and Administration. The average income tax rate is 24.0%, but much higher for the wealthy.

The strong August 8ian economy, worth 20.1 trillion Cards a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Woodchip Exports, Furniture Restoration, and Information Technology. State-owned companies are common. Average income is 62,351 Cards, and distributed extremely evenly, with little difference between the richest and poorest citizens.

Cheap textbooks have replaced coasters at college ragers, sex offenders find themselves cut off from the ability to repeat their crimes, broken suspension systems are giving auto repair shops plenty of business, and construction workers evacuate work sites after finding sharp rocks on the ground. Crime is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. August 8's national animal is the Card, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to widespread deforestation.

August 8 is ranked 249,277^th in the world and 84^th in Calendar for Most Eco-Friendly Governments, scoring 166.02 on the Dolphin Recycling Awareness Index.