J.K. Rowling: Libertarian Propagandist?

University of Tennessee law professor Benjamin Barton sees Rowling's series of Harry Potter novels as libertarian propaganda:

In Harry Potter and the Half-Crazed Bureaucracy, Barton details the political messages he's discovered in the Potter books:

"What would you think of a government that engaged in this list of tyrannical activities: tortured children for lying; designed its prison specifically to suck all life and hope out of the inmates; placed citizens in that prison without a hearing; ordered the death penalty without a trial; allowed the powerful, rich or famous to control policy; selectively prosecuted crimes (the powerful go unpunished and the unpopular face trumped-up charges); conducted criminal trials without defense counsel; used truth serum to force confessions; maintained constant surveillance over all citizens; offered no elections and no democratic lawmaking process; and controlled the press?

"You might assume that the above list is the work of some despotic central African nation, but it is actually the product of the Ministry of Magic, the magician's government in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series."

Barton said he thinks the anti-government thread that runs through the Potter novels is significant because the books have great potential to sway public opinion.

"It would be difficult to overstate the influence and market penetration of the Harry Potter series," Barton contends. "Somewhere over the last few years the Harry Potter novels passed from a children's literature sensation to a bona fide international happening."

H/T to Brian Doherty.