The Druidic Candidate: Can California deal with a Druid for governor?

In a country just now coming to grips with its millions of Muslim residents, and in a county that not long ago freaked out about the construction of a Hindu temple in Buena Park, a Druid running for governor is bound to raise eyebrows. But Libertarian gubernatorial candidate and Druid Gary Copeland doesn’t just tolerate the flak: he welcomes it, like a guy who wrote the kick-me note he stuck on his own back—even when the flak is fired by fellow Libertarians.

"It doesn’t bother me at all," says Copeland. "It’s not an issue with me. It’s their issue, not mine. When people speak, they speak for who they are. . . . It’s my path to serve, and I’m doing that. I know not everyone’s going to agree, but that’s okay."

But everything’s not entirely okay. Copeland doesn’t mask his annoyance at a Newsweek article that dismissed him as a "whacko" or with postings on a Libertarian e-mail list that chastised him for noting that he’s a Druid in the California voter’s guide, although he didn’t note that he once advocated the use of LSD for spiritual purposes.

Indeed, it seems there’s unease within the party over Copeland’s unconventional religious beliefs—a "culture of peer pressure," Copeland calls it—that one wouldn’t expect from the liberty-loving Libs. It’s as if it’s all right for Copeland to harbor unusual religious beliefs so long as he doesn’t talk much about them.

"Since Libertarians are a third party, we find it difficult to be taken seriously or to be considered by voters," says Mark Murphy, director of a group called Libertarian Activists and a former member of the Orange County Libertarian Party Central Committee. "Obviously, we want voters to see we aren’t any different from many of them. So, when Gary—who’s a friend of mine, by the way—declares himself a Druid, there’s a concern that trying to be taken seriously just went out the window."

Doug Scribner disagrees. "I’m upset that people would find his beliefs a setback to his candidacy. After all, how many Christian politicians openly proclaim their beliefs in ballot guides?" says Scribner, vice chairman of the county’s Libertarian Party.

Copeland remains philosophical about the criticism; indeed, he remains philosophical about everything. When you talk to him, he’s philosophical at a hundred miles per hour and will frequently answer questions as if he’s reading from a Celtic I Ching. Why is he running for governor, for instance? "Because the path brought me here," he says.

It can be kind of frustrating. But beneath it, there’s a refreshing sense that Copeland is deeply invested in his beliefs, both as a Druid and a Libertarian.

"It’s an asset," he says. "I love my Druidry as much as I love my Libertarianism. I describe myself as an existentialist libertarian Druid. If I can’t find an answer from one philosophy, I go to another. Anything that’s indefinable, I go to Druidry."

Copeland says Druidry is a Celtic philosophy of magic, similar to the more popular Wicca. It’s a circle of logic and spirituality based on the ideal of service to others—like The Lion King minus the cheesy soundtrack. One of the central tenets of Druidry is that no one should have authority over anyone but himself or herself—a point Copeland illustrates with a reference to The Lord of the Rings, noting that the ring Frodo carries has "so much power that, even if you did good things with it, it would pervert, subvert and seduce you."

"That is the basis of all Celtic philosophy: that absolute power corrupts absolutely."

That idea led Copeland to the steadfastly secular Libertarian Party. Around 1980, Copeland was working with Timothy Leary’s Brotherhood of Eternal Love to spread the gospel of LSD and enlightenment when he got busted. Fortunately for him, he says, he was screwing the narcotics agent. Not wanting to deal with that, he says, the cops charged him only with low-level possession.

"I was using LSD to be spiritually enlightened," he says. "I was one of those peyote people who for thousands of years had been using hallucinogens to connect to the spiritual world. Who were the cops to tell me I couldn’t?"

Soon after, he began running the Orange County branch of NORML, the marijuana-legalization folks, and soon after that, he fell in with the anti-prohibitionist Libertarians. In 1992, he ran for Congress against Dana Rohrabacher—himself a former Libertarian—and got killed, garnering just 7.7 percent of the vote. In ’96, he ran for county supervisor, beating the Democrat in the race—which tells you something about the state of the Democratic Party in Orange County. He has worked in computers and recently founded his own company, NextCure, which will distribute information on drugs under FDA review.

None of this really gives him a leg up in the gubernatorial race against überbland rivals Davis and Simon, but Copeland would rather run as he is than tailor his biography and message for the mainstream.

"The problem with most politicians is that they’re pretending to be something they’re not," he says. "They’re trying to be something outside their natures. They think people won’t like them if they’re different. But people like to go to a taco stand and try different tacos. I’m not stupid; when I put the Druid thing in, I knew it would be a hook. If I hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t be talking to you right now."

Okay, so to sum up your very long posting, you can't prove anything you find objectionable, because all your objections rest on assumptions. (Everyone always lived about the same lifespan; all the continents were arrayed then as now; all animals always behave the same; Christ's resurrection is irrelevant; etc.) Assumptions that you are too lazy to investigate, as you admit.

So... who's the one with no intellectual curiosity again? I have an eyewitness account, with (as you helpfully demonstrated) an eminently credible structure. You have... assumptions. So, tell me again...who's not curious?

Dan

And the purpose of your questions is...?

To gain knowledge, "Dataman." That's the purpose of asking questions in science...to gain knowledge.

You appear to think you know the 10 "kinds of dog" that were present at the time of Christ, and the 5 "kinds of dog" that were present at the time the Ark was allegedly built. I'm asking you what they were, so I'll know what you think YOU know.

Simple question. Will you answer it?

I assume you grant the fact that the ark was 3x larger than needed.

Not a good assumption. I can't make ANY assessment about whether or not the alleged ark was large enough, until I find out how many animals were allegedly on board. All I know is that there were allegedly two of every "kind" of animal. But since BS isn't real science, "kind" doesn't have any scientific definition. In real science, we have, "kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species, variety/breed."

If you or Dan would say, "kind means species" or "kind means genus" or "kind means variety/breed" I might then be able to estimate the number living things involved. (At least if you could ALSO tell me whether you think that animals that SCIENCE knows were long extinct 4000 years ago were also on the ark...e.g., dinosaurs.)

So again: What were the 10 "kinds" of dog around at the time of Christ, and the 5 "kinds" of dog around at the time of the alleged building of the ark (which I ASSUME we agree was approximately 4000 years ago)?

The best way to gain knowledge is to do some research. You are asking me to do it for you yet I doubt you will believe anything I find for you. I will answer your questions this time, but only this time. I am not convinced you sincerely want to know and I am absolutely certain that you have done little or no research regarding your position based on what you have so far posted. For example, you say:

building of the ark (which I ASSUME we agree was approximately 4000 years ago)?

Your assumption is incorrect. Consult a reference book to discover when the flood took place. By 2000 BC we are already to the time of Abram.

There were only a few kinds of dogs. Fossil remains of the early Bronze Age, 6500 years ago; make it possible to identify 5 major groups of early dogs

There happen to be several places where this information can be found. Here is the source for the quote: http://www.chuckiii.com/Reports/Anthropology/Domestication_of_the_Dog.shtml

But since BS isn't real science, "kind" doesn't have any scientific definition. In real science, we have, "kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species, variety/breed."

Maybe you haven't thought of this before, but exactly what was the taxonomy before the current system? Do your own homework to discover the answer. Do you think there was no method of classifying animals before the current phylogenic system?

try looking here for starters

The best way to gain knowledge is to do some research. You are asking me to do it for you yet I doubt you will believe anything I find for you.

:-/ *I* can't possibly "research" what I'm asking you! I'm asking you what YOU know...or to be more accurate, what you think you know. You said there were 10 "kinds" of dogs at the time of Christ, and 5 "kinds" of dogs at the time of the Flood. You obviously wouldn't have said this, unless you thought you knew it. I can't research to find out what *you* think you know.

There were only a few kinds of dogs. Fossil remains of the early Bronze Age, 6500 years ago; make it possible to identify 5 major groups of early dogs.

Heh, heh, heh! Dataman, Irish Archbishop James Ussher calculated that CREATION occurred in 4004 BC! Are you saying the good Archbishop was WRONG? ;-)

Dates of Creation and the Flood

Your nonsensical (which some witnesses call "science") website about the dogs of the Bronze Age is saying that there was a BRONZE AGE almost 2500 years before Adam was even created!!! :-)

In your opinion, who is wrong? Archbishop James Ussher, who calculated that Creation occurred in 4004 BC? Or the website that you found that talks about an early Bronze Age in 6500 BC?

If I gave you all Christian sources, you'd dismiss them, so I gave you a secular source.

I would never "dismiss" them. I might "refute" them. Big difference.

Rather than deny the secular source, you ask me to defend a person's chronology.

I didn't ask you to "defend" (or refute) anything. I asked you which source you THOUGHT was correct (that the world started circa 4004 BC, or that the early Bronze Age was occurring in 6500 BC). As a matter of fact, you could have easily said you thought both were wrong, and gave your own thoughts on what dogs were available circa the alleged time of alleged Noah. That's telling, as is your excuse for not researching.

Once again, this was something for which is was NOT possible for me to do research...I was asking for what YOU thought you knew.

I prefer to deal with thinkers.

No one on this site thinks more than I do. (Some may think as much, no one thinks more.)

Goodbye.

Yes, if you can't stand the heat, you should probably stay out of the kitchen.

As I understand it, the LP and the LNC have severed relations with Browne and some of his more implicated cronies for the forseeable future.

That the severance could not be done without kicking and screaming should have been plenty enough disturbing, but it is good that it finally occurred, if indeed it did. Even so, there remain sufficient enough Browne allies in the party leadership chambers, and it will probably require a lot more work before the influence becomes completely cauterised.

(When have you seen a man who's 480 years old?

I have days when I see myself to shave in the morning and it feels like I'm looking at a 480 year old man.

When have you seen animals traveling in pairs 1000's of miles to get on a ship?

Up and down both coasts to board for pleasure cruise vacations.

When have you seen tigers--fresh from the wild--tame enough that they wouldn't eat a gazelle that happened to be standing around waiting to get on the same boat?)

In Detroit, this season, allegedly playing baseball.

( /wisenheimer mode off. Though I'd still like to know how bright was a man to put them all on a ship in pairs but still forget to swat the mosquitoes and gas the cockroaches...)

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.