David F. Nolan, 66; Libertarian championed small government
TUCSON — David F. Nolan, who cofounded the national Libertarian Party and helped guide it for four decades while remaining active in politics as a candidate, including a recent run for the US Senate, has died at 66.
Mr. Nolan died Sunday in Tucson, where he lived, said a statement yesterday by the party.
His vehicle was found off the side of a roadway last Saturday evening. He died in a hospital the next day of unknown causes.
Mr. Nolan helped found the Libertarian Party with a group of colleagues in Colorado on Dec. 11, 1971. He remained a member of the Libertarian National Committee until his death.
“He not only helped found the Libertarian Party but remained active and helped to guide our party for the last 40 years,’’ Mark Hinkle, chairman of the Libertarian Party, said in the statement. “We are now the third-largest political party in America, and one of the most persistent and successful third parties in American history, thanks in large part to David Nolan.’’
The party boasts 250,000 registered voters.
Libertarians espouse limited government intervention in the economy, civil liberties, and personal freedom, believing that government’s only role should be to help individuals protect themselves from force or fraud.
Mr. Nolan received nearly 5 percent of the Arizona vote this year as a Libertarian candidate for US Senate against incumbent Republican John McCain.
On his website, Mr. Nolan called for an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, at least a 50 percent cut in federal government spending, and the repeal of the personal income tax. He also wanted to legalize drugs.
“While drug abuse is bad, the drug war is far worse,’’ Mr. Nolan wrote. “Drug prohibition has been an outright policy failure.’’
Mr. Nolan received a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked for four decades in advertising, marketing, and publishing.