Barr On Wiccan Issue

There’s a certain amount of humiliation that comes with running as a third-party candidate for president. The federal deficit, loose nukes, angry Muslims, the economy — these are topics that the major party candidates are asked to address. But if you’re Bob Barr, the Libertarian candidate, there are times when your campaign must seem like a never-ending Star Trek convention, with no Scotty to beam him up.This is a recent blog entry on Dispatches from the Culture Wars: I got to ask Barr a question I’ve wanted to ask him for quite some time. He’s repudiated and apologized for many of his previous positions and I asked him if he would repudiate his absurd anti-Wiccan crusade of 1999, when he wanted all Wiccans banned from the military. He said yes, with a bit of hemming and hawing. He said that he had reports from several military leaders that Wiccans doing rituals on military bases were causing problems and that’s why he did what he did, but that since that time it’s become clear that there are no problems with allowing Wiccans to serve and to practice their religion on military bases like any other religion.