BRINGING A PUTTY KNIFE TO A CULTURE WAR.

Last week I mentioned some kulturkampf krap from the folks at libertarian flagship Reason. They are apparently serious about pursuing this editorial direction and have enlisted Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie to devise a list of "The 5 Best Libertarian TV Shows Ever," available as a video (no fucking way) and as text -- here is a sample:

The Wire (2002-2008). Widely considered one of the greatest TV shows of all time, this Baltimore-based drama has been called a visual novel that explores and analyzes class, race, and politics from multiple viewpoints and perspectives. Different seasons keyed in on different institutions—schools, police, the media—and the ways in power was exercised and abused, often in the name of helping the underprivileged.

I assume this is just Gillespie's way of getting back at David Simon.

Read it and weep -- or read my three alternative entries. And devise some of your own in comments!

Twenty-One. Not only did this pioneering game show feature the sort of intellectual feats of strength at which libertarians excel (you should see us at Quizzo Night!), for a brief, magical period (until the statists shut it down) contestants were allowed to freely engage in informal business arrangements with like-minded entrepreneurs -- or, as the littlebrains would say, to cheat -- which made for a more enjoyable entertainment product and demonstrated the cultural superiority of capitalism. 

The Flintstones. Not being acquainted with the work of Hayek and Ricardo, people of the Paleolitic era lived in Rousseauian confusion and squalor. What would the experience of early man have been like if he had access to a capitalist model? The Flintstones answers this question: It would be like early-60s America, but better, because the meddling hand of the state would be nowhere to be seen. While business thrives, crime in Bedrock is non-existent; Fred and Barney refrain from predation and rapine because their behavior is positively influenced by engagement in "little platoons" such as the Loyal Order of Water Buffaloes, and of course by the threat of deprivation should Mr. Slate fire them from the quarry, the "safety net" not having been invented because you can't make a net out of rocks. Saber-tooth tigers gotta eat something! (Bonus: It's a total rip-off of The Honeymooners, and if it weren't for the whole "intellectual property" racket we'd have lots of quality shows like this.) 

Hannibal. It's a miracle the liberal network NBC allowed this story of a truly free man on the air. Most of us are so ground down by the politically-correct conventions of our age that we can't even begin to know what we want, but Dr. Hannibal Lecter not only knows, he also gets it, and lets neither so-called "morality" nor the bumbling fascist police stop him. At last -- for the first time since Dallas went off the air, a character to whom libertarians can really relate.