Posted on 03/28/2002 11:30:11 AM PST by afuturegovernor
The Druidic Candidate
Can California deal with a Druid for governor?
by Victor D. Infante
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."
Here's one big L-Libertarian that doesn't have a clue what you're talking about. Why in the world do you feel any need to "apologize" for someone who isn't even in your Party?
What business is it of yours, anyway? If he said he was a Zorastrianist*, would you "apologize in advance" "as a small l-libertarian"?
*For those who don't have a clue what a Zorastrianist is (*I* didn't, until I looked here):
Zorastraianism...followers of Zarathustra
I assume the whole issue of what his religion was came up because there was some box on a California Voter's Guide marked "religion." If he is indeed a Druid, it seems only logical to write that in.
The modern Druid religion seems benign. (Just like the modern Christian religion...now that Christians no longer have the Inquisition or witch trials.) Here's information about it, for people (like me) who didn't know much about it:
In short, I don't see anything to "apologize" for.
Mark (capital L-Libertarian)
Sorry, but the Christian faith proved its claims with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Atheism, however, has shown itself capable of incredible acts of brutality in the former Soviet Union, Communist China, etc.
I see pride still goes before the fall.
Show me the Ark! ;-) Better yet, build me a boat, and put two of all the animals on earth on that boat, for 40 days and 40 nights. If you can't do that, I say that the Flood (that killed ALL the animals and ALL the people on earth, less than 6000 years ago) was just a, "fabrication churned up by fanciful, over-imaginative individuals"!
And after you get done doing all that...answer the question that I've never gotten a fundamentalist friend of mine to answer: What were the races of the people on the Ark? Was Noah oriental, and his wife black? Who was the Scandanavian?
Keep that in mind while your party is busy NOT getting elected to anything.
And by anything, I mean in towns with populations over 325. Drugs, prostitution, and nutjobs. How do you ever expect to be taken seriously?
1) Have YOU ever gone to the trouble (and, almost certainly, "expense") of ever running for office as a Libertarian? If not, it somewhat pisses ME off, when I see members of my own party trashing other members of my own party...especially when those OTHER members are out in the streets, fighting the good battle.
2) As for him "fitting in better" with the Greens or Natural Law Party, let's look at a debate between Mr. Copeland, the Libertarian, and the Green Party candidate (who used to be--I kid you not--the Socialist Worker's Party candidate for President).
Mr. Copeland, the Libertarian, called Libertarians "warriors of liberty" (very nice! the man's got some slogan talent!). According to the San Diego Union Tribune, "Copeland said government should exist only to protect property, public safety and national security. He called for guarding personal freedom, ending the drug war and dismantling the public education system."
Now, how exactly does THAT fit in with the Green Party or Natural Law Party? ;-)
Here's what the Green Party candidate advocated, "Camejo called for using renewable energy sources, boosting the minimum wage, ending the death penalty, universal health care and campaign finance reform."
San Diego Union Tribune account of Libertarian/Green debate
Gary Copeland sounds like a Libertarian to me. And considering that he's going to the effort and expense of representing the Libertarian Party, he deserves and gets my respect. (Though I wouldn't support him for President...or even necessarily Governor of North Carolina...unless no other Libertarian was interested.)
Mark (Libertarian, North Carolina)
Larry Elder (the Sage of South Central) takes us seriously. He also says (correctly) in his book, "The 10 Things You Can't Say in America": "Republicans and Democrats...not a dime's worth of difference." As Mr. Elder perceptively recognized, Libertarian Harry Browne was by FAR the best candidate for President in 2000. (In fact, the ONLY candidate who would have followed the Constitution.)
Economist Thomas Sowell (Hoover Institute) describes himself as not a conservative, but a libertarian. (Though he disagrees with the Libertarian Party on the size of military.)
In fact, quite a number of economists are libertarians: Sowell, Walter Williams, Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman...
In short, quite a number of people take us seriously. The question is, when Republicans make the completely laughable claim that they support limited government or the Constitution, who in the world would be ignorant enough to take THEM seriously?
Mark (Libertarian Party...accept no substitutes!)
Proved it to who?
Yeah, funny how when they get power, government just keeps getting bigger. You might think that they only differentiate themselves enough to get elected, and then start hauling home the pork to stay elected. That seems to be the Republican ideology -- stay in office, to hell with principle.
Hmmm....one party's Senators vote 50 out of 55 members in the Senate vote to convict and remove Clinton from office and the other party has a candidate for governor that runs around in the woods wearing a white hooded robe.
Liberty Magazine says that a lot of money donated to Browne's '96 and 2000 campaigns went for the enrichment of Mr. Browne.
Hard for me to take that crap about not initiating violence seriously. I mean if someone threatens me, I'm a firm believer in a pre-emptive first strike.
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