Modern political movements
🗳️ Perot, the Libertarians and the Pauls: Third Paths in American Politics
Ross Perot and the 1992 and 1996 campaigns, the ideas and history of libertarian thought and the Libertarian Party, and a fair analysis of Ron Paul and Rand Paul: what they believe, how they have voted, where they differ, and how critics from the left, right and center answer them. Each lesson ends with a short quiz.
- 1Left, Right and the Third PathsA short account of where left and right came from, then the history and law that decide whether a third path can reach American voters: populism from the Omaha Platform to Perot, the winner-take-all rules that favor two parties, the Supreme Court's ballot access cases, Idaho's rules for new parties and independents, and what the major minor-party runs from 1892 to 1996 actually won.24 min
- 2Ross Perot: The Man Before the CampaignThe life of H. Ross Perot before and around his presidential runs: a Texarkana boyhood, the Naval Academy, IBM, the founding of Electronic Data Systems in 1962, the 1979 rescue of two employees from an Iranian prison, the sale of EDS to General Motors and his collision with its management, his long POW and veterans work, the Texas school reforms of 1984, and his death in 2019. The lesson separates the documented record from the legend.22 min
- 31992: The CampaignHow Ross Perot went from a conditional promise on Larry King Live to nearly twenty million votes: the petition drive in all fifty states, the spring lead, the July withdrawal and the October return, the half-hour programs with charts, the three debates, the results state by state, and what the exit polls and the political-science studies say about whether he decided the election.22 min
- 4Perot's Platform and the Reform PartyWhat Ross Perot actually proposed on the debt, taxes, lobbying and trade; how his fight against NAFTA played out in 1993; how his volunteer network became United We Stand America and then the Reform Party; the 1996 campaign and the debate exclusion; the party's split after Jesse Ventura and Pat Buchanan; and how his NAFTA warnings compare with the record from the CBO, the USITC, the BLS and the Census Bureau.23 min
- 5What Libertarians BelieveWhere libertarian ideas come from, how the word itself changed hands, and what its main thinkers actually argued: self-ownership, the non-aggression principle, Nozick's minimal state, Rand's quarrel with the movement, and the thinkers who refused the label. The lesson also sets out the internal splits, the fusionist alliance with conservatives and Russell Kirk's dissent, and what surveys say about how many Americans hold these views.24 min
- 6The Libertarian PartyThe Libertarian Party from its founding in Colorado in December 1971 to October 2026: every presidential result from Hospers to Chase Oliver, the 1972 faithless elector, ballot access, the party's platform, the Mises Caucus fight, the Libertarian Party of Idaho's standing under Idaho law, and the policy changes libertarians pushed for that others enacted.25 min
- 7Ron Paul: The Doctor Who Said NoRon Paul's life from Pittsburgh to a Texas obstetrics practice, his three tours in the House, the Gold Commission, the 1988 Libertarian campaign, the drive to audit and end the Federal Reserve, his antiwar voting record, the 2008 and 2012 campaigns, the newsletters controversy with the documented facts and his own responses, and what his supporters and critics argue.24 min
- 8Rand Paul: The Senator Who Holds the FloorRand Paul's path from an ophthalmology practice in Bowling Green to the Senate, his 2010 Civil Rights Act remarks and his clarification, the 2013 drone filibuster, the 2015 fight over the Patriot Act, the 2016 presidential run, his votes on health care, debt, Ukraine, Israel, the 2025 reconciliation bill, tariffs and war powers, taken from the Senate roll calls, and his committee posts and standing as of October 2026.24 min
- 9Comparing the Pauls: Father and SonRon Paul and Rand Paul side by side: the Federal Reserve, war and executive power, foreign aid and Israel, immigration, abortion, drugs, trade and tariffs, and how each chose to work inside or outside the Republican Party. The lesson sets their roll-call votes next to scorecards from groups of the right, the left and the libertarian middle, names every group, and says where a score could not be confirmed.22 min
- 10The Critics, and an Ordered-Liberty ViewThe strongest objections to libertarian ideas from three directions: traditional conservatives such as Russell Kirk, progressives arguing for public goods, civil rights enforcement and a safety net, and populists and Perot-style economic nationalists on trade and immigration, each with the libertarian answer. The lesson closes with the site author's own framework, ordered liberty, and where it agrees and parts company with libertarian thought.23 min