Florida Lawyer Is a Goat Killer, Blood Drinker, and Future Senator?
His name is Augustus Sol Invictus and he wants to be the next Marco Rubio. The 32-year old lawyer in Orlando, Florida, is running as a Libertarian candidate to replace U.S. Senator Marco Rubio. But it's not his Randian politics that are turning him off to voters; it's his animal sacrifices.
"I did sacrifice a goat," Invictus told the Associated Press last Friday. "I know that's probably a quibble in the mind of most Americans. I sacrificed an animal to the god of the wilderness ... Yes, I drank the goat's blood." But what's his stance on the federal deficit?
It's Not Just the Name That's Crazy
It's not just Invictus's religious practices that are out of the ordinary. Augustus Sol Invictus, surprisingly, isn't his given name. It's dog Latin for "majestic unconquered sun." He has declined to give any previous names, though he is a member of the Florida bar under his Latin name. When he is not running for office, Invictus is managing partner at a small Orlando firm.
Oh, and he's a neo-Nazi who wants to start a civil war, at least according Adrian Wyllie. Wyllie is a former candidate for Florida governor and ex-chairman to the Libertarian Party of Florida. He resigned in protest of Invictus's run. "He is the absolute exact opposite of a Libertarian," Wyllie told the AP. "He's a self-proclaimed fascist. He's promoting a second civil war." So, if true, that puts him a bit to the right of Donald Trump and Ben Carson.
Just a Misunderstood Floridian?
Invictus objects to his characterization as a neo-Nazi, though he acknowledges many neo-Nazis support his run. He, like Jeb Bush, has Hispanic children. Until his candidacy, however, his most newsworthy act was representing the head of a Florida neo-Nazi group on charges related to domestic terrorism. And he's not pro-Civil War, but he does believe citizens should rise up "if the government is waging war on its citizens."
Invictus claims he has been investigated by the FBI and U.S. Marshalls, though he claims they're just interested in him for his YouTube videos. In those videos, Invictus delivers denunciations of democracy and Nelson Mandela -- in a very odd, hopefully inflected mix of Southern drawl and faux-aristocratic hauteur.
More traditional libertarians like Wyllie worry that Invictus's candidacy will destroy the party. But Wyllie has been unable to rally party leaders against Invictus and the Libertarian Party of Seminole County has simply dissolved in response to the controversy.
Related Resources:
- Florida Candidate for U.S. Senate Admits to Sacrificing Goat, Drinking Its Blood (Orlando Sentinel)
- Florida Judge Suspended After Fisticuffs With Public Defender (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)
- Lawrence Lessig Wants to Be President, for a Day or Two (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)
- Lawyer's Pig Campaign Draws Attention to ... Political Issues (FindLaw's Greedy Associates)