10 Great Libertarians Of Film And TV

9. Tony Stark €“ Iron Man

02 stark€œI am Iron Man. The suit and I are one. To turn over the Iron Man suit would be to turn over myself, which is tantamount to indebted servitude, or prostitution, depending on what state you€™re in€. Much has already been written about how Iron Man 2 channels Ayn Rand€™s Atlas Shrugged, particularly the courtroom scenes in which a wealthy industrialist Tony Stark struggles to keep his intellectual property out of the government€™s hands. The above quotation could easily be written-off as just another of Stark€™s sardonic quips, but pay special attention and you will see he is exploring one of the root arguments of Libertarianism, which is self-ownership. If he, Tony Stark, owns his body, it follows that he owns his time, and the things he creates with his body and his time €“ the fruits of his labour. While it may seem obvious that a person owns their own body, many political philosophies and standing laws, when examined closely, are incompatible with this key concept.
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Musician, cartoonist and ex-video store clerk.