HON. RON PAUL
OF TEXAS
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
2010 Ron Paul 60:1
Mr. PAUL.
Madam Speaker, David Nolan,
founder of the Libertarian Party and creator of
the “Nolan Chart” that inspired the “Worldís
Smallest Political Quiz” passed away on November
21. I join freedom activists around the
country in mourning his loss and celebrating
his life.
2010 Ron Paul 60:2
Like many libertarians of his generation, Davidís
initial interest in the freedom philosophy
was inspired by the novels of Ayn Rand and
Robert Heinlein. During the sixties, David was
involved in Students for Goldwater and Young
Americans for Freedom (YAF). David was also
involved with the Liberty Amendment Committee,
which worked to pass an amendment
to the Constitution repealing the Sixteenth
Amendment and restricting the powers of the
federal government to those explicitly granted
it in the Constitution.
2010 Ron Paul 60:3
David was drawn to the Republican Party
because of the limited government, pro-individual
liberty themes of the Goldwater campaign
—and like many others he was disappointed
when the supposedly free-market
administration of Richard Nixon embraced a
policy of conservative Keynesianism. When
Richard Nixon imposed wage-and-price controls
and took the U.S. off the gold standard
on August 11, 1971, David decided he could
no longer support the Republican Party and,
along with a group of other disillusioned ex-
Goldwaterities, created the Libertarian Party.
2010 Ron Paul 60:4
David remained active in the Libertarian
Party for the rest of his life. He even ran for
office several times on the Libertarian ticket,
most recently just this year when he ran for
Senate in Arizona. Despite the best efforts of
David and others, the Libertarian Party has
never been able to achieve major party status.
I believe the main reason for this is the restrictive
ballot access laws that force new and
third parties to spend the majority of their time
and resources getting on the ballot, thus leaving
them with comparatively few resources to
devote to actually campaigning and spreading
their message. I continue to believe the American
politics would benefit from reforming
these ballot laws so third and independent
parties and candidates could have greater
ability to communicate their ideas to the American
public.
2010 Ron Paul 60:5
Despite the obstacles of ballot access, the
Libertarian Party has been successful in introducing
millions of Americans to the ideas of
liberty. It has also pushed the two major parties
in a more libertarian direction. Thus, even
those advocates of liberty who have chosen to
work through the major parties to advance the
freedom philosophy benefited from the David
Nolanís work to advance liberty through the
Libertarian Party.
2010 Ron Paul 60:6
Davidís work with the Libertarian Party was
far from the sum total of his activism as he
was involved in a variety of other pro-freedom
organizations and projects. One of Davidís
ideas was the genesis of the freedom movementís
most successful outreach tool. In the
early seventies, David reworked the traditional
two-dimensional left-right political spectrum
into a graph running from that favoring government
involvement in both economic and personal
affairs to those favoring complete liberty.
In between were those favoring social freedom
but not economy liberty (modern liberals) and
those favoring economic freedom but favoring
government intervention in personal matters
(conservatives). In the 1980s, Davidís friend
Marshall Fritz, the founder and President of
the Advocates for Self Government, converted
the Nolan Chart into the Worldís Smallest Political
Quiz.
2010 Ron Paul 60:7
The quiz uses the Nolan Chart to graph an
individualís political philosophy based on responses
to a series of ten questions that
measure oneís commitment to economic and
personal liberty. The quiz has been taken over
15 million times online, has been reprinted in
dozens of newspapers and magazines, is referenced
by major high school and college
textbooks, and is used by educators in classrooms
across America. The quiz is responsible
for many peopleís first contact with libertarian
ideas. As a board member of the Advocates
for Self Government, David helped the
organization popularize the quiz. He also assisted
in numerous other projects by the Advocates
designed to help activists in the freedom
movement more effectively advocate the freedom
philosophy.
2010 Ron Paul 60:8
Madam Speaker, David Nolan devoted his
life to the cause of liberty, and helped build
the freedom movement through his work with
the Libertarian Party, the Advocates for Self
Government, and many other organizations. I
therefore join freedom lovers across the country
in extending my sincere condolences to
David Nolanís family and his many friends.
