Ron Swanson Explains Libertarianism

From Parks and Recreation (NBC)

Categories:

American Government and Civic Engagement–Domestic Policy–Political Ideology

Run time: 3:30

Note: At three and a half minutes this runs longer than most clips in the library. Pick a stop point before class rather than playing it to the end.

Clip Description: Ron Swanson, the parks department director who does not believe in government, is asked what he does for a living and answers with a cheerful, unhedged statement of libertarian principle, taxation included. The comedy is that a man drawing a government salary is explaining why government should not exist.

American Politics Concepts Discussed/Connected To: Libertarianism as a coherent ideology rather than a punchline; the difference between ideology and partisanship; the gap between what people say about government in the abstract and what they want from it in particular. It connects to the literature on symbolic versus operational ideology — the finding, stable across sixty years of survey research, that Americans are ideologically conservative and operationally liberal, saying they want less government while supporting almost every particular thing government does.

Possible Uses in Classroom: A strong opener for a unit on political ideology, because it states one end of the continuum in ninety seconds and does it more memorably than a definition. It also works late in a semester as a check: students who can say what Ron would have to give up have understood the position rather than the caricature.

Discussion Questions

Ron states a principle and applies it consistently. Lay out the principle in your own words, then name two government functions he would have to give up to hold it — including at least one most Americans would not want to lose.
Political scientists distinguish symbolic ideology, what people say they believe about government in general, from operational ideology, what programs they actually support. Which is Ron expressing here, and how would you tell the difference in survey data?
The joke depends on Ron holding a government job. Does drawing a public paycheck undercut his argument, or is that a separate question from whether the argument is right?
Ron would rather pay nothing and receive nothing. Name three things he used on the way to work that taxes paid for, then say which of them are non-excludable — that is, which ones you could not keep him from using even if he refused to pay. What does that imply about funding them voluntarily?

Assignment

Take the American National Election Studies item asking whether government should do more or less, and the ANES items asking about spending on specific programs — education, Social Security, defense, assistance to the poor. Using the most recent wave, report what share of respondents say government does too much while also supporting increased spending on at least two named programs. Two pages. The hard part is deciding what that combination means: whether those respondents are confused, whether the general question is badly worded, or whether “less government” means something more specific than the question captures.

A second option. Use the Tax Policy Center’s distributional tables to find what a household at the median income actually pays in federal income tax, payroll tax, and both combined, as a share of income. Compare that with what a nationally representative sample thinks the median household pays — Gallup and Pew both carry items on this. Two pages reporting the gap, closing on what you think explains it, and be specific about whether you are blaming the tax code’s complexity, the coverage, or the survey question.

Clip hosted on YouTube, posted by NBC on the official Parks and Recreation channel.

For AP Students

AP U.S. Government and Politics
Unit 4: American Political Ideologies and Beliefs

Topics: 4.7 Ideology and Policy Making; 4.8 Ideology and Economic Policy

The CED asks students to describe the ideologies of the two major parties and to explain how ideology shapes policy positions on economic questions. Ron is a clean statement of one end of that continuum, delivered fast, which makes it a better opener than a textbook definition.

Discussion questions

Define libertarian ideology in one sentence, then place it against liberal and conservative ideology as the CED describes them. What does it share with conservatism, and where does it break from it?
Name one economic policy and one social policy on which a libertarian and a conservative would part company, and explain what accounts for the split.
Ron’s position is coherent but rare among elected officials. Why does neither major party offer a libertarian platform, and what does your answer tell you about how a two-party system handles minority ideologies?

Short activity

The ideology sort (15 minutes). Put four labels on the board — liberal, conservative, libertarian, populist. Read eight policy positions aloud one at a time and have students commit to a label for each before you say anything. Spend the last five minutes only on the positions the room split on. Those are the ones free-response questions are built from, because they are the places where ideology and party do not line up.