The flag of the Highton Islands
The Crowned Republic of the Highton Islands is a massive, progressive nation, ruled by President Alex Calabrese with a fair hand, and notable for its keen interest in outer space, aversion to nipples, and punitive income tax rates. The compassionate, hard-working, democratic, devout population of 1.264 billion Hightonians enjoy a sensible mix of personal and economic freedoms, while the political process is open and the people's right to vote held sacrosanct.
The medium-sized, outspoken government juggles the competing demands of Education, Defense, and Industry. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Highton City. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 66.5%.
The frighteningly efficient Islish economy, worth 171 trillion Blocks a year, is broadly diversified and led by the Tourism industry, with major contributions from Information Technology, Book Publishing, and Soda Sales. Average income is an impressive 135,409 Blocks, with the richest citizens earning 6.3 times as much as the poorest.
Every week is blindness awareness week, homeowners are evicted to make way for new runways, truth is often impossible to tell from fiction on the evening news, and annual Formula One races bring the capital to a screeching halt. Crime is totally unknown. Highton Islands's national animal is the Coco Monkey, which frolics freely in the nation's many lush forests, and its national religion is Football.