The Libertarian Lessons of South Park: An Analysis of Libertarianism in South Park, How Ron Paul, Gary Johnson & South Park Created a New Generation of Libertarians & South Park Conservatives
"As the South Park generation move into adulthood and paying vast amounts of tax, a timely and useful pointer on Libertarianism" - Andrew Withers: Leader, Libertarian Party of the United Kingdom"Dr. Paul is a role model for aspiring Canadian libertarians looking to get into politics. His bid for presidency was closely examined by libertarians around the world; his ability to cross barriers that are seemingly unreachable by the left/right paradigm is a testament to him and the philosophy he espouses." -Katrina Chowne: Leader, Libertarian Party of Canada"I read [the] book... and loved it. [The] writing style is very clear and to the point." - Gabriel Scheare: Member, Libertarian Party of Canada"My favorite chapter was the one on Margaritaville, mainly because my initial interpretation was more liberal leaning and I was glad to learn about a different perspective on it." - Nathaniel Ballinger: South Park Fan/////////////////////////////////////////////CONTENTS1 INTRODUCTIONWhat Is a Libertarian? | Liberals & Conservatives & Libertarians2 BUTT OUTDescription | There Will Be No More Smoking! | The Tyranny of the Majority | Individual Responsibility | Freedom of Choice | Private Property Rights3 GOO-BACKSDescription | They Took Our Jobs! | This Is America! We Speak English! | Can We Get Rid of All the Mexicans? | Borders & Private Property | The Fence | Nationality4 GNOMESDescription | It's a Capitalist Country! Get Used to It! | The Greedy Small Businessman | The Invisible Gnomes of the Free Market | Collect Underpants & Profit5 SOMETHING WALL-MART THIS WAY COMESDescription | Wall-Mart Is Our Neighborhood Friend! | Slave Wages6 MARGARITAVILLEDescription | Water & Bread & Margaritas! Yea! | If You Spend It, Goods Will Come! | Heresy Toward the Economy | Bail Out the Insurance Company | Profit & Loss | Aaand It's GONE7 GO GOD GODescription | Science Damn It!8 MEDICINAL FRIED CHICKENDescription | Drugs Are Bad, M'Kay? | Finger Licking Illegal9 DIE HIPPIE DIEDescription | Liberal Brainwashing10 MANBEARPIGDescription | I'm Super Cereal!11 SEXUAL HARASSMENT PANDADescription | Taxes Make Me a Sad Panda | Isn't That Fascism? | There's No Such Thing as a Free Puppy12 HOOKED ON MONKEY PHONICSDescription | Screw You Guys! I'm Going Home-School13 MR. HANKEY, THE CHRISTMAS POODescription | The Right Not to be Offended14 THE DEATH CAMP OF INTOLERANCEDescription | Intolerance Will Not Be Tolerated15 REVERSE COWGIRLDescription | Last Bastion of American Freedom | You Can Always Sue Somebody!16 DOUCHE AND TURDDescription | The Two-Idiot System17 OTHER ISSUESDescription | I'm Super! Thanks for Asking! | A 42nd Trimester Abortion | It's Coming Right For Us! | Respect My Authoritah!18 RESPECT MY LIBERTAH!I Learned Something Today/////////////////////////////////////////////FROM THE INTRODUCTIONI believe that Matt Stone and Trey Parker have influenced, whether it was their intention or not, a generation of young people to be more libertarian with their show South Park. They sum up their political beliefs with the following statement:"I hate conservatives, but I really f***ing hate liberals."If this book works the way I intend, liberals and conservatives who read it will be libertarians when they finish it. I will use certain episodes as a point of departure to discuss certain issues. In some cases, I will use my experience in France to drive the point further. I will cite some prominent libertarians, but in many cases I don't cite anything. As you read, you will notice that I spend more time trying to convince liberals to be fiscally responsible than I do trying to convince conservatives of being socially intolerant. That is because I believe that fiscal responsibility can be taught more easily than social tolerance. Social intolerance is often motivated by deep religious beliefs, and it is virtually impossible to change one's religious beliefs.For example, Rick Santorum is very conservative, and I don't think anyone can convince him to be socially tolerant. In fact, Santorum recently said that the Republicans are losing elections because they're not anti-gay enough. I'm more optimistic of influencing those who don't feel very strongly about the liberal-conservative dichotomy.My job in France gave me so much time off that I was able to contemplate the role of government in our lives. And I was able to come to many conclusions, which I discuss in this book, without having read anything about libertarianism beforehand. I used to be liberal, but then I realized that I was a libertarian all along. I just didn't know it.Each chapter from Chapter Two to Chapter Sixteen is named after an episode from South Park. The chapters begin with a description of the episode, in case you haven't seen it. If you're an avid South Park fan, you won't need to read these of course. Some descriptions are longer or shorter than others. The subsequent subsections contain a libertarian lesson from that episode. The episode is used as a point of departure, and there are a few subsections that don't pertain directly to the episode, but rather to the lesson in it. You will notice that a few chapters have more lessons than others. For example, Chapter Two contains many lessons discussed that could easily be discussed in other episodes. While many of the libertarian lessons of South Park are often repeated in multiple episodes, each lesson will be discussed only once, but they may be mentioned a few more times.