Spotlight on:

“Hasta la Victoria Siempre”

The United Socialist States of October 9th is a huge, safe nation, notable for its devotion to social welfare. Its compassionate, cynical population of 614 million are ruled without fear or favor by a psychotic dictator, who outlaws just about everything and refers to the populace as "my little playthings."

It is difficult to tell where the omnipresent, corrupt, moralistic, socially-minded government stops and the rest of society begins, but it juggles the competing demands of Defence, Social Welfare, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 98%. The private sector is almost wholly made up of enterprising fourteen-year-old boys selling lemonade on the sidewalk, although the government is looking at stamping this out.

An enfeebled opposition party spends most of its time simply trying to stay on the ballot, phone taps are frequently carried out by the police, politicians are losing their jobs in a plan to make the government 'leaner and fitter', and referenda can be called for any law at the request of at least one third of the voting population. Crime -- especially youth-related -- is totally unknown, thanks to the all-pervasive police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. October 9th's national animal is the tocororo bird, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its currency is the peso.

October 9th is ranked 568th in the region and 33,723rd in the world for Happiest Citizens.