OUR VIEW: A freedom fighter dies
Our country’s fledgling but promising freedom movement suffered a significant loss with the sudden death of freedom fighter Dane Nowels. He died of an apparent heart attack at his Colorado Springs home Dec. 1, at the age of 52.
Nowels was president of the Pikes Peak Firearms Coalition, and an indefatigable defender of gun rights.
Nowels was a soft-spoken and articulate gentleman with a talent for instilling enthusiasm for free market economics, gun rights, and freedom in the hearts and minds of young people, minorities, and emerging leaders. Unlike too many free market advocates, Nowels could explain the virtues of limited government in a way that appealed to goodness. He wasn’t one of those me-first, money-trumps-all, I-have-mine-so-to-heck-with-anyone-else defenders of liberty. He was a man who understood the value and potential of the individual, if given the freedom to thrive, and the benefits of individual greatness to society.
As vice chairman for the El Paso County Republican Party, Nowels was always the voice of reason — the man other Republicans counted on to resolve disputes.
Nowels earned an economics degree from The Ohio State University, and had a keen understanding of free market principles he brought to the table as a member of the Pikes Peak Economics Club. Though formally educated, Nowels mostly taught himself through his voracious consumption of books. He, better than possibly anyone in the Pikes Peak region, was able to articulate the devastating effects of excessive taxation and schemes to redistribute wealth forcefully for the sake of feel-good causes.
Mostly, Nowels exuded kindness and good character. His work will live on through the words and deeds of those he inspired in his battle to defend freedom from the ravages of taxation and government control. — Wayne Laugesen, for the editorial board
—
Our View editorials uphold a proud tradition of advocating individual freedom, constitutional law, faith, and limited government. Editorial opinions have no connection with The Gazette’s news division, and do not express the views of all Gazette associates.
