[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 161 (Wednesday, December 8, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2088-E2089]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO DAVID NOLAN

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 8, 2010

  Mr. PAUL. Madam Speaker, David Nolan, founder of the Libertarian 
Party and creator of the ``Nolan Chart'' that inspired the ``World's 
Smallest Political Quiz'' passed away on November 21. I join freedom 
activists around the country in mourning his loss and celebrating his 
life.
  Like many libertarians of his generation, David's 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.
  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.
  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.
  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 Nolan's work to advance liberty through the 
Libertarian Party.
  David's 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 David's ideas was the genesis of the 
freedom movement's 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, David's friend Marshall Fritz, the 
founder and President of the Advocates for Self Government, converted 
the Nolan Chart into the World's Smallest Political Quiz.
  The quiz uses the Nolan Chart to graph an individual's political 
philosophy based on responses to a series of ten questions that measure 
one's 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 people's 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.
  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 Nolan's family and his many 
friends.

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