Ron Swanson
Ronald "Ron" Swanson is the director of the parks and recreation department of the fictional Indiana city of Pawnee, a job he has held for six years at the time Parks and Recreation began. A staunch Libertarian, with a distinctive mustache, Ron is an extremely strong advocate for small government; despite working in a city hall job, he believes all government is a waste of taxpayer money. He explains his ideal government as, "One guy who sits in a small room at a desk." Ron believes the park system should be privatized and run entirely by corporations for profit, as exemplified by the business model of the Chuck E. Cheese's chain of family entertainment centers. He advocates for program cuts wherever possible, and purposely tries to hire people who are bad at their jobs so they will slow the government down. Ron exerts almost no energy into his job, and lets his deputy director Leslie Knope do the vast majority of the work at the parks department. Ron, who has an extremely deadpan and masculine personality, actively works to make city hall less effective and despises interacting with the public. He loves meat, hunting and breakfast foods. He hates and fears his two ex-wives, both of whom are named Tammy. Ron's mother is also names Tammy, which Tom reveals because of a contest. Ron then finds out that Tom's marriage is a green card marriage. Then Toms finds out that Ron also plays by the name of "Duke Silver", a jazz man that preforms in the neighboring town. Ron has been married to Tammy Swanson "Tammy I" once, but has been married to Tammy Swanson "Tammy II" twice. Ron claims not to be interested in the personal lives of those around him but actually cares a great deal about his colleagues, and has a particularly strong respect for Leslie.