Is Firefly libertarian?

I am referring to the Jos Whedon science fiction show that went off the air after eight (?) episodes.  I now have watched the available corpus of eleven episodes available on DVD.  Many call it libertarian, I see the implicit politics as suggesting the following:

1. Don’t expect much from armed rebellion, the bad guys often win.

2. A galaxy devoid of the rule of law is not such a fun place.

3. Smuggler heroes are noble, but most smugglers are not heroes.

4. Economies of scale matter, and secession is a hard life.

In other words, it is actually Burkean conservative.

One of the heroines is a "companion", so I wonder if the series endorses legalized prostitution.  We are told repeatedly that she is "registered" (legally, in the form of a cartel?), and she seems to look down on garden-variety you-know-whats, who presumably also engage in price shading.

Alina Stefanescu offers Firefly commentary; see Rod Long as well.  Dan Drezner describes his conversion to the series, plus offers his usual excellent links.  Jacqueline Passey is another avid fan.

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