Dr. Ron Paul (R-TX) recently gave the following speech on the floor of the United States House of Representatives in honor of Marshall Fritz:<\/p>\n
Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to my friend Marshall Fritz who passed
\naway on Tuesday, November 4, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.
\nMarshall was a true champion of freedom whose impact on the cause of liberty
\nwill be felt for years to come.<\/p>\n
Marshall, with his booming voice and good humor, was the happy warrior of the
\nfreedom movement, as well as the movement’s Will Rogers. Marshall never met a
\nfellow fighter for liberty, a single-issue ally, or a potential convert he did
\nnot like — and to Marshall anyone who did not already share his love of
\nliberty was a potential convert.<\/p>\n
Marshall was a model of an ideological\/political entrepreneur. In 1984,
\nMarshall saw that the growth of the freedom movement was handicapped by the
\nlack of an organization to help activists better communicate the freedom
\nphilosophy to the general public. While Marshall was not the first person to
\nhave this realization, he was the first person to attempt to remedy the
\nsituation by founding Advocates for Self-Government, an organization designed
\nto teach activists how to effectively communicate their principles.<\/p>\n
In the years since Marshall founded the Advocates for Self-Government, the
\norganization has helped countless libertarians by providing them with the
\nintellectual resources necessary to effectively battle for a free society.<\/p>\n
While serving as president of the Advocates, Marshall created the World’s
\nSmallest Political Quiz. The Quiz graphs an individual’s political philosophy
\nbased on responses to a series of 10 questions that measure one’s commitment to
\neconomic and personal liberty.<\/p>\n
Under Marshall’s leadership, the Advocates undertook an aggressive program of
\ndistributing the Quiz. There is no doubt that this has been the Advocate’s most
\nsuccessful and popular program. The Quiz is responsible for many Americans’
\nfirst contact with libertarian ideas. <\/p>\n
While traveling around the country, I have often heard people say, “I never
\nknew I was a libertarian until I took the Quiz!”<\/p>\n
In 1990, Marshall stepped down as president of the Advocates to found the
\nAlliance for the Separation of School and State, an organization focusing on
\nthe vital issue of parental control of education. Thanks in large part to
\nMarshall’s work, the idea that parents, not the government, should control
\neducation is no longer excluded from public debate as a “fringe” notion. One of
\nthe features that most impresses me about the Alliance is the way that Marshall
\nbrought libertarians, conservatives, liberals together to work for education
\nfreedom.<\/p>\n
Anyone who knew Marshall and worked with him would not be surprised that he was
\nable to forge a coalition of people of diverse views. Marshall’s focus was
\nalways on building alliances and trying to persuade those with whom he
\ndisagreed, rather than on scoring debating points. While he never compromised
\nhis principles and never hesitated to criticize even his closet allies if they
\ntook what he considered an anti-liberty position, Marshall never personalized
\ndisagreements and always treated his opponents with courtesy and respect. I
\nbelieve the freedom movement would be more successful if more libertarians
\nfollowed Marshall’s example of never turning policy disagreements into personal
\nattacks.<\/p>\n
All of us who care about building an effective freedom movement owe a debt of
\ngratitude to Marshall Fritz. I join Marshall’s family in mourning his loss and
\nI urge all of us who work for liberty to honor Marshall’s memory by following
\nthe example he set.<\/p>\n
V-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dr. Ron Paul (R-TX) recently gave the following speech on the floor of the United States House of Representatives in honor of Marshall Fritz: Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to my friend Marshall Fritz who passed away on Tuesday, November 4, after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. \u2026 Continue reading