Television is not the home of
many libertarian characters. Given that the anti-authoritarian nature of
libertarians makes them an excellent choice for rebellious heroes and
anti-heroes, this is surprising. One of the most publicly visible libertarian
television characters in recent years was Gale Boetticher of “Breaking Bad.”
This eclectic chemist and meth manufacturer famously endorsed Ron Paul for
president in his notebook—the notebook which played such a prominent role in
bringing about the final conflicts of the show. While Boetticher was an
interesting, complex, well written character, he was after all, a “cooker” of
illegal drugs. Even a libertarian who opposes drug prohibition could have
issues with a person who works for a violent drug lord such as Gustavo Fring.
Furthermore, Boetticher [SPOILER WARNING] dies an ignoble death, shot by Jesse
Pinkman as he begs for his life.
Two other arguably libertarian
characters on television are Stan Marsh and Kyle Broflovski of “South
Park.” In many ways, these two boys
have bashed statist ideology on the right and left and defended freedom and
common sense against tyranny and political correctness for more than 15 years.
However, they are, after all, cartoon characters. Nevertheless, they are
portrayed by show creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone as voices of
reason—especially compared with their portly and bigoted right-wing pal Eric
Cartman. This has made animated libertarians more mainstream. Another animated
libertarian—Dale Gribble of the long running Fox animated comedy “King of the
Hill”—was presented as more of a caricature. He was a lovable yet paranoid and
buffoonish conspiracy theorist. He was also presented as a fool and as the only
one oblivious to the fact that his wife was not so subtly cheating on him.
The undeniable symbol of
libertarianism on television today is Ron Swanson from NBC’s “Parks and
Recreation.” Played to comic perfection by actor Nick Offerman, Ron Swanson is
the comedic spark which makes an otherwise run of the mill single camera
workplace comedy into an entertaining show. Swanson works as the director of
the parks and recreation department of fictional small-town Pawnee, Indiana.
As a libertarian, his goal is to bring down government from the inside by
seeing to it that it does no harm—which is to say that it does little or
nothing. Swanson’s attitude on government can be summarized in his own words:
“Once a year, every branch of government meets in a room and announces what
they intend to waste taxpayer money on. For a libertarian such as myself, it’s
philosophically horrifying.” He loathes government as at best a necessary evil
that inevitably becomes parasitic on the people: “It’s never too early to learn
that the government is a greedy piglet that suckles on a taxpayer’s teat until
they have sore, chapped nipples.” Swanson wishes to see government severely
limited: “My idea of a perfect government is one guy who sits in a small room
at a desk, and the only thing he’s allowed to decide is who to nuke.” He wants
to see most of the machinery of government brought “crumbling to the ground.” Ultimately,
Ron Swanson believes in freedom from government coercion: “This is America.
This is not China.
You can’t make her whip herself. You can’t make her wear a hair shirt.” He does
not believe in paternalism even when the Nanny
State has good intentions: “The
whole point of this country is that if you want to eat garbage, balloon up to
600 pounds, and die of a heart attack at 43, you can! You are free to do so. To
me, that’s beautiful.” Many anti-authoritarian characters wind up not actually
being libertarians because of economics. Many rebellious heroes and anti-heroes
on the small screen wind up being more Keynes than Hayek. Not so with Ron
Swanson. He is an uber-libertarian economically: “My dream is to have the whole
park system privatized and run entirely for profit by corporations like Chuck
E. Cheese.” In addition to holding justified political views, Ron Swanson also
married a character played by TV’s Xena Warrior Princess—Lucy Lawless. Nothing
wrong with that!
Nick Offerman’s Ron Swanson is so
colorful and three-dimensional that he jumps right off the screen. He rivals
Abed Nadir of “Community,” Barney Stinson of “How I Met Your Mother,” and Sheldon
Cooper of “The Big Bang Theory” as the most unique and entertaining personality
on a current network sitcom. He is that rare supporting character that winds up
overshadowing the main characters. There is no doubt that many viewers love Ron
Swanson, agree with him, and identify with him. However, the question is
whether “Parks and Recreation” portrays Swanson and his libertarianism in a
positive light or if they just intend him to be an eccentric character with
extreme and wacky views.
Despite the fact that any rational viewer would have
to conclude that Ron Swanson’s cynical views of government are confirmed by the
inept way that the government of Pawnee is run on the show. However, Leslie
Knope—the well meaning protagonist of the show—is portrayed as a tireless
worker with good intentions. She has also been “winning” in the sense that her
presence has inspired the inefficient do nothings that Swanson staffed the
parks and recreation department with to actually work hard and accomplish
statist goals. Furthermore, those without libertarian sympathies might view
Swanson’s goals as inappropriate and obstructionist. Others may wonder why Ron
Swanson has not become more of an entrepreneur. He has excellent woodworking
skills. Why is he not working in the private sector and creating jobs rather
than wasting his time unsuccessfully trying to sabotage a minor and relatively
meaningless local government agency from the inside? At the end of the day, is
Ron Swanson essentially just a “wacky” character not to be taken seriously? Is
he just a new version of Cosmo Kramer? Is Swanson more Stan and Kyle or more
Dale Gribble? Is he a character that the audience likes because of his
qualities or despite them?