The Racist Commune of Thermopylae is a huge, safe nation, ruled by Lycurgus with an even hand, and renowned for its frequent executions, free-roaming dinosaurs, and stringent health and safety legislation. The hard-nosed, democratic population of 962 million Thermopylaeans have some civil rights, but not too many, enjoy the freedom to spend their money however they like, to a point, and take part in free and open elections, although not too often.

The large government prioritizes Education, with Administration, Healthcare, and Law & Order also on the agenda, while Spirituality and International Aid are ignored. It meets to discuss matters of state in the capital city of Caeadas Chasm. Citizens pay a flat income tax of 67.1%.

The thriving Thermopylaean economy, worth 104 trillion Iron Bars a year, is driven entirely by a combination of government and state-owned industry, with private enterprise illegal. However, for those in the know, there is a slick, highly efficient, broadly diversified black market in Arms Manufacturing, Book Publishing, Uranium Mining, and Beef-Based Agriculture. The private sector mostly consists of enterprising ten-year-olds selling lemonade on the sidewalk, but the government is looking at stamping this out. Average income is an impressive 108,564 Iron Bars, but there is a large disparity between incomes, with the richest 10% of citizens earning 445,578 per year while the poor average 17,463, a ratio of 25.5 to 1.

Graffiti graces every city's streets, elections have become procedural nightmares due to voters persistently rejecting candidates, police officers that upset their bosses get assigned to 24 hour stakeouts of bike sheds, and there is no such thing as an innocent fling in the Thermopylaean military. Crime, especially youth-related, is totally unknown, thanks to a capable police force and progressive social policies in education and welfare. Thermopylae's national animal is the Lernaean Hydra, which teeters on the brink of extinction due to heavy metals seepage into national waterways.

Thermopylae is ranked 171,864^th in the world and 1^st in Volkisch Sparta for Largest Automobile Manufacturing Sector, scoring 226.68 on the Henry Ford Productivity Index.