Libertarianism in Harry Potter

The fifth movie is one of my favorites because it portrayed a lot of libertarian leaning ideas. Mises did explain, as I have said in my post about Fringe, that it is expected for statist ideologies to be very prevalent in literature and that's why I get really ecstatic when I see ideas about the benefits of less government in mainstream media.

voldemort hitler
Voldemort addressing the Death Eaters

He who must not be named wants a single-party state and wants to achieve this through violent means. And just as the Nazis were faithful to their Fuhrer, the Death Eaters will do anything that their Dark Lord commands.

dolores umbridge
Dolores Umbridge

Dolores Umbridge represents a bureaucrat who wants to impose regulations that is "for the welfare of the students". But, as always, there were unintended and evil consequences even when bureaucrats have the most noble of intentions. She imposed restrictive regulations on the curriculum, prohibited many "harmful" things, and after all that we saw how dangerous it can be to give power to an appointed bureaucrat (yes, the Ministry of Magic merely appointed her, there was no consent from the people at all).

The fact remains: Hogwarts was doing fine, students were safer, and education was better when it was free from bureaucratic control and regulations. I love the part when the wall was already so full of ridiculous regulations but the thing is that's not even an exaggeration because that's the kind of power we are giving appointed bureaucrats not just in education but many other sectors.

diagonalley free market
Diagon Alley symbolizes the free-market

Diagon Alley is a place where people can voluntarily exchange and trade with each other. Government intervention is probably so minimal or perhaps even non-existent. I don't think there's a lot of red tapes or requirements or unnecessary permits to start up a business there. The Weasley twins were easily able to start their own magic hobby shop place easily. Real prices arise, competition encourages innovation, and people are able to find the best ways of serving one another.

Sadly though, she's a left-wing socialist J.K. Rowling donated 1 million pounds to the Labour Party and is a good friend of Gordon Brown and even praised him in an essay in TIME magazine. She's also an advocate of a welfare state and highly praises their NHS.

I think this just proves that there's a libertarian inside all of us even people who consider themselves socialists. There are just so many libertarian-leaning ideas that are reflected in the whole Harry Potter series. But once again, I go back to how Mises explained to me that even intellectuals get misguided with all the misinterpretations of free market or smaller government.

But no matter how much of a socialist J.K Rowling thinks she is, her Harry Potter series is a brilliant tale of the struggle of individuals against a coercive state.

Opening sequence of the libertarian version of Harry Potter:


See Also:

No comments

Powered by Blogger.