Libertarian Party Founder Dies

David Nolan, 66, founder of the Libertarian Party died earlier this week. I ran across his obituary in the New York Times. In addition to founding the Libertarian Party, he also developed what became know as the Nolan Chart (see below).


The obituary mentions that Nolan was influenced by the individualist fiction of Robert A. Heinlein and the novels of Ayn Rand. I find it interesting that people develop a political ideology that has it's roots in science fiction. The TEA Party has embraced much of the Libertarian platform, especially the fiscal side of it. The social side has a long to to go to get accepted by the likes of the TEA Party.

I suppose the libertarians have a relative in scientology, a religion based on the science fiction writings of L. Ron Hubbard.

Nolan was so smitten by Ayn Rand, that he went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with the idea of being an uncompromising architect like Howard Roark, the hero of Rand’s “Fountainhead.” My take on Howard Roark is that he didn't understand that he was a replaceable hireling. He was a wage slave working for the man. If he wanted to be the total individualist, he would have paid for the building himself. Dynamiting the building, to me, represented the work of a spoiled brat who didn't get his own way.

I suppose I can understand how people like Nolan get hooked on a piece of fiction. I remember reading S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders" in eighth grade and it made we want to become a juvenile delinquent. That was the first book a read in one night and the only book I re-read immediately after I finished the first read.

I suspect there's more than a little science fiction rolled into the Bible. Likewise, I believe there is a touch of fiction and fantasy contained in our Constitution.

Maybe there are more than a few who have staken their worldview on science fiction. Oh who knows, maybe if you close your eyes and click your heels, you might end up in Kansas with a girl named Dorothy.