So He Drank Goat's Blood

In this election year, Libertarian candidates for US Senate from Florida include a 33-year old gentleman who goes by the preposterous name of Augustus Sol Invictus.  He gets a lot of notice.  Not for his platform so much, but for his religion.  And his religion, to say the least, is controversial. 

Gee, he doesn't look dangerous!

So who is he?  He's defined by his past more than who he is.  He won't give his real birth name, but we know he's a Leo born in 1983.  (Hey, we're gonna get metaphysical in this post, so allow me to identify this guy through his horoscope).  We know he's got four kids, who he says are partially Hispanic.  So far so good.  He graduated from the University of South Florida with Philosophy honors with a BA. From there he went to DePaul University College of Law and graduated in 2011. He says he has been admitted to the Bar at Florida, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, and the Middle District of Florida in the US District Court. He is the managing director of Imperium, P.A., the Orlando law firm he founded in 2013. And in 2014 he acted as attorney for Marcus Faella of the American Front, a central Florida skinhead group, in his legal appeal.

He once hiked from Orlando all the way to the Mohave Desert, and along the way delved into hallucinogenic separate realities.  Remind you of Carlos Castaneda with don Juan, anyone?  As a ritual sacrifice for having endured the journey, physically and spiritually, he drank goat's blood.  No biggie, first-time-kill hunters often drink the blood of their game. 

He's a Thelemite, an interesting quasi-metaphysical religion essentially founded by Alistair Crowley. The tenet of that philosophy is essentially,  "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. Love is the law, love under will."  So individual free will in a moral and loving self is to be achieved.  Interesting.  That belief system of applied free will is evident in dozens of other religions, spiritual teachings and self help programs.  It's hardly dark, but any mention of Crowley has the effeminate elite clutching their pearls.

What's his platform, then?  Invictus believes that the United States should embrace a non-interventionist approach to foreign policy, up to becoming isolationist.  He advocates for balancing the budget, shrinking the size of government, ceasing reckless government spending and deregulating American business. He is also in favor of repealing the individual income tax, abolishing the IRS and recreating the tax code. He is for an expanded federal role in protecting the environment.  He does not support mass immigration and is against open borders for the United States.   However, he supports policies that would streamline the process of immigration and naturalization.  He believes that abortion should be illegal, he's opposed to the War on Drugs and supports repealing the Controlled Substances Act and abolishing the DEA.  He also believes that America should find alternative forms of energy so as to reduce U.S dependence on foreign energy. He does not believe there should be a trade-off between economic freedom and the destruction of the environment.  Pretty much center of the road - more individual freedom, less government intervention. 

As I read more about this guy, I like him all the more.  And here's why.  He's conventional in his message, but brave in his delivery.  And the media only want to yak about LSD, goats and a preposterous name.  At least he hasn't had anyone killed, betrayed the nation, or committed perjury.  Yet he bravely stands conventional political wisdom on its head, and in doing so, exposes the blatant hypocrisy in the media.  To wit:  a candidate who has carnal relations with a goat is fine, yet one who drinks goat blood is not.  A candidate who follows a sadistic bigoted pedophile is fine, but one who believes in self enlightenment is not.  A candidate who is obviously and demonstrably corrupt is fine, but a candidate who admits to using psychedelics is not.  A progressive candidate who believes in eugenics is fine, but one who believes in self improvement is not.  And a candidate who demands an all encompassing government is fine, yet one who embraces laissez faire capitalism is not.

And that new view, that Libertarian view, dear readers, is way overdue in our political discourse.  In fact, I'd go so far to say that's one reason why Donald Trump is so popular.  The  insidious scam of the two-party oligarchical elites has been exposed, and the people have rejected it out of hand.  Realistically, though,  Invictus doesn't have a Chinaman's chance in hell in winning the Senate in this race, but in every election cycle the status quo becomes less and less appealing.  And more like him will come.

But Augustus Sol Invictus has guts, and sometimes guts is all it takes.  Right, Donald?