The Republic of Ray Charles is a mammoth, orderly nation, notable for its museums and concert halls, strictly enforced bedtime, and compulsory military service. The hard-nosed, cynical, humorless, devout population of 8.001 billion Ray Charlesians are kept under strict control by the oppressive government, which measures its success by the nation's GDP and refers to individual citizens as "human resources."

The enormous, corrupt, moralistic government juggles the competing demands of Industry, Defense, and Education. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Albany Georgia. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 63.3%.

The frighteningly efficient Ray Charlesian economy, worth 591 trillion keys a year, is quite specialized and led by the Arms Manufacturing industry, with major contributions from Beef-Based Agriculture, Information Technology, and Woodchip Exports. Black market activity is rampant. State-owned companies are reasonably common. Average income is 73,885 keys, but there is a significant disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 222,655 per year while the poor average 19,114, a ratio of 11.6 to 1.

Airport announcements inform passengers that flights have been delayed because pilots are having afternoon naps, children playing with walkie-talkies are told to 'get a job', temporarily-sober tourists forlornly watch pot-smoking dropouts hanging out in coffeeshops, and the blood, sweat, and tears of poor Ray Charlesians make research institutes rich. Crime is moderate, perhaps because of the country's complete lack of prisons. Ray Charles's national animal is the Stallion, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests.

Ray Charles is ranked 278,479^th in the world and 5^th in Georgia for Highest Unexpected Death Rate, scoring 25.38 on the Bus Surprisal Index.