10 Great Libertarians Of Film And TV
1. Cosmo Kramer Seinfeld
Ive had it with these jackbooted thugs (on Pottery Barn) Kramer dabbled briefly in Marxism during a short-stint as a department store Santa (reread that sentence... God, wasnt Seinfeld just the best?), but if we revisit some of his adventures on the show a pattern of entrepreneurship and anti-authoritarianism emerges, a potent combination which may result in a libertarian outlook. Ever the scofflaw, he partakes in illegal gambling, parking, cock-fighting, scalping, breaching airport security, perjury, Cuban cigar-smoking (and then, manufacture) and the installation of high-flow showers that buck city regulation. His many business dealings are hardly above-board, whether its enlisting a college intern for his Kramerica corporation; or his many get-rich-quick schemes (recycling, selling used records, trench-coats, Peterman reality tours) none of which are licensed, and are assumedly, all cash-in-hand. Theres an episode which functions as an allegory for abortion, in which Kramer asserts he ought to be able to put whatever ingredients he desires on his own pizza, including, to Pappys disgust, cucumbers. Theres the episode in which he cancels the mail, and in doing so, reveals a vast-government conspiracy the government propping up a bloated, unnecessary mail service - which could be interpreted as making a subversive point about Americas military-industrial complex. This one may seem like a stretch, but consider this: Kenny Kramer, real-life inspiration for Cosmo Kramer, once ran for mayor of New York on the Libertarian Party ticket. Funnily, he ran against Giuliani, who in the fictional world of Seinfeld, had been delivered into power inadvertently by Kramer himself, after a scandal involving fat-free yoghurt. While the ending of Seinfeld, in which sweet-natured Kramer finds himself in prison, may seem far-fetched and mean spirited, it is a rather realistic ending for him- during the course of the show he has broken thousands of laws. Click "next" below for our conclusion...