The Republic of -WatchingAnd-Dreaming- is a massive, efficient nation, notable for its irreverence towards religion, restrictive gun laws, and suspicion of poets. The hard-nosed, humorless population of 2.285 billion -WatchingAnd-Dreaming-ians 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 large, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Administration, Defense, and Law & Order. The average income tax rate is 63.7%.

The all-consuming -WatchingAnd-Dreaming-ian economy, worth 229 trillion snails a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Information Technology industry, with major contributions from Uranium Mining, Woodchip Exports, and Furniture Restoration. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is an impressive 100,286 snails, and evenly distributed, with the richest citizens earning only 4.5 times as much as the poorest.

Workers have their fruitcake and eat it too, safe drinking water is considered a luxury, executions are marked by quiet dignity and maybe a final round or two of whist, and private pharmacies close down as medicinal drugs are given away freely by the government. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a well-funded police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. -WatchingAnd-Dreaming-'s national animal is the owl.

-WatchingAnd-Dreaming- is ranked 49,163^rd in the world and 2^nd in Mad Land of the Mad Madmen for Largest Cheese Export Sector, scoring 4,145.12 on the Mozzarella Productivity Index.