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

The Orange County Weekly ^ | March 28, 2002 | Victor D. Infante

[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."

[FormerLib]

See post 108. See the red link right under Dan's name? There ya go!

[FormerLib]

Gee, do you think it's merely coincidence that he's chosen the name of a pagan god's goat? ;-)

[BibChr]

Gee, you mean that you managed to read all of the proof on Dan's link so quickly?

THANK YOU

I was about to say, "Clearly you didn't read my work on just that subject, so where's the incentive for me?" You made the point just as well.

Imagine, arguing the existence of evidence with a person who can't even prove that he exists!

Dan

[FormerLib]

Then let's keep it simple: Do you deny the Resurrection of Jesus Christ? Yes or no?

Irrelevant smokescreen.

No, that is the single relevant question. The topic traces back to the assertion that no religion, Christianity among them, that ever proved a single one of its claims. My answer was the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. His Death and Resurrection were witnessed by many people (many of whom were still alive during the time Paul wrote his epistles). Many of them, and all but one of the Apostles, faced death by torture for stating the truth.

Does it seem reasonable to you that they wouldn't have gone through such agonies to attest to something they knew to be false? Clearly, they faced such a death because they knew what was to come.

Yet, it is you who puts up the smokescreen by challenging us to "prove" that a body of water had at one time been divided!

The fact is that Christianity is founded on a truth. That truth is the Resurrection.

Get thee behind me!

[BibChr]

Thanks, I did find the link. No, I don't find the contents particularly convincing.

Refute them then. Be the first.

Dan

[BibChr]

— IF you exist, that is. You still haven't established that.

[AlGone2001]

Only registered Libertarians could vote in the Libertarian primary.

My point exactly. Did you notice trend?

About 1/2 of 1% voted Libertarian.

And the argument here is can we vote for a Druid.

Actually, it's not the druid thing that has the voters staying away in droves.

And...oh...it wasn't just him.

[BibChr]

Can't do either, then?

So now it devolves to the moral sphere: your honesty-problem, and what moral issue it is that makes the reality of Christ threatening to you.

Dan

[conserve-it]

"I want a SMALL federal government"
Ah,theres the rub. I spent my 48 years voting Republican and PRAYING that through some ironic twist of fate, that the Republicans would, more often than not, at least make an honest effort to do the right thing. These days are gone. I will tell you one thing; you are without a doubt, one of the top 20 most intelligent, most literate, well read guys on this website. Along with our obvious anguish and the frustration endemic to same, don't forget to discuss music every now and then. It lowers my blood pressure, and, at least is an antidote to, or short term expedient to, a way to something better. Best regards, conserve-it.

[BluesDuke]

I will tell you one thing; you are without a doubt, one of the top 20 most intelligent, most literate, well read guys on this website.

You, sir, have just made me blush!

Along with our obvious anguish and the frustration endemic to same, don't forget to discuss music every now and then. It lowers my blood pressure, and, at least is an antidote to, or short term expedient to, a way to something better.

Music and, of course, the Olde Ball Game. Which reminds me: the winter of our malcontent is about to draw to a close. Opening Day approaches!

[conserve-it]

Hear hear, I played minor league baseball when I was 18 with the Oakland A's. All hit, no field. The life of a left hander, isolated in right field. Ended up accepting a full acedemic scholarship to Boston College. Not so bad when you think about it..............I lost 100,000,000 million dollars......Waaaaaaaaaaaaah!!

[BluesDuke]

At least you got to the minors! ;) I could pitch a bit and hit a good bit when I was growing up.

As a pitcher, I had a rather weird palm ball - I used to hold mine right in the palm with my thumb resting on a seam and the fingertips off the ball, so I could let the ball kind of bound off my fingertips when I threw it. The way I threw it, it spun like a fast ball but it had nothing on it. Kids in camp games used to scream bloody murder and their counselors would scream at me to knock it off with the fancy pitches, and I used to scream back that when you're the pitcher, your job is to get their asses out any way you could think to do it. They'd get a little testier, and then I'd knock one of their guys down, and I'd tell them, "Now, get in there and hit. Just watch the ball and take your best shot, and if you get your hit, pat yourself on the back because you earned that hit, and let's play this game the way it's supposed to be played, everyone even up, and everyone does his job, you're the hitter and your job is to try to hit what I throw, and my job is to get you out." And they learned something, I hope. Just because we're kids, it doesn't mean there's not a right way to play baseball. And you enjoy the game more when you're playing it the right way. I guess it was pretty brash, but hey, I played the game to get the best out of it. And you got my respect if you stepped in there and gave me your best shot at bat. Even if you took me downtown.

I had a wee bit of a sinkerball, actually a fast ball which tended to drop down because of the way it left my hand - I didn't have a very strong grip, and the way I was holding it, the rotation took the ball down, even though it wasn't a proper sinkerball. And I'd actually figured out how to throw an odd little knuckleball - I used a fingertip grip but, instead of holding the ball with the fingers over the top, I'd hold mine sideways, the way your hand ends up after you snap it out to throw a curve ball, and I used to get some decent movement on the ball even if I threw it a little harder than you'd normally throw a knuckleball.

As a hitter, I was pretty much something between a pure power hitter and a line driver, and I was pretty decent at going the other way - I batted right handed and I got a lot of my hits going to right field. I had long enough legs that even running at not such great speed I could take the extra base. Alas, at age 15, I made a pair of revelations: I could no longer hit a fair ball unless they moved the foul lines over degrees enough to make a straight line behind the plate, and I could no longer throw strikes unless the zone was on a batter's ass.

[FormerLib]

No, that is the single relevant question. The topic traces back to the assertion that no religion, Christianity among them, that ever proved a single one of its claims.

Who made that claim, and where?

jlogajan did on post 60 (posted on 3/28/02 2:25 PM) of this thread.

My answer was the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. His Death and Resurrection were witnessed by many people (many of whom were still alive during the time Paul wrote his epistles). Many of them, and all but one of the Apostles, faced death by torture for stating the truth.

And? The same thing happened with many of the disciples of the Buddha, and continues to happen to this day, yet they still are willing to sacrifice their lives for what they believe is the truth.

Did any of them know Buddha in the first person? There's the rub, you see.

Does it seem reasonable to you that they wouldn't have gone through such agonies to attest to something they knew to be false? Clearly, they faced such a death because they knew what was to come.

See above. Further, fanatics of every stripe go through agonies to attest to what they believe, be it true or not. Suffering for faith is nothing new and does not lend itself to any greater degree of credibility.

Really? Can you name one atheist who had ever endured so much as a hangnail in defense of his/her beliefs? [Note: O'Hair dying at the hands of her fellows doesn't count]

Yet, it is you who puts up the smokescreen by challenging us to "prove" that a body of water had at one time been divided!

I didn't make the claim, Einstein, your associate did. If either you or he can support the claim with evidence, I'll be happy to review it.

Again I ask then, exactly how sould you have us to "prove" that a body of water had at one time been divided!

The fact is that Christianity is founded on a truth. That truth is the Resurrection.

Get thee behind me!

Dunce.

Oh, brilliant retort there! I stand in awe of your eloquence!

[conserve-it]

Had I known what would happen to salaries soon after 1972, I might have tried to tough it out for a few years. I remember in 72, Vida Blue was making 90000, and Carl Yazstremski(who had recently won the triple crown) was earning 100,000. Within a couple years, these salaries would exceed 800,000 to over a million, for players of that caliber.

My fondest memory was in the Babe Ruth league in 9th grade. The ONE game my dad was able to make all summer. Bottom of the 7th, we were losing 3-0, bases loaded,and I get the "meatball" of all time on the first pitch. I cleared the fence,AND the grandstand. My coach, who had not spoken to me all season, walked up to my reticent little English professor dad, and said " That little $hit a yours sure takes his cuts, don't he?"

[Don Myers]

Actually, I believe there might still be some doubt about who built Stonehenge.

[BluesDuke]

I know what you mean. Jim Bouton, writing in an updating of Ball Four in 1980, noted he was asked about the salary boom and what he thought. "You mean, aside from the fact that I was born too soon?" he quipped.