One incident of goat sacrifice should not keep this man out of the U.…

His name is Augustus Sol Invictus. He sacrificed a goat to the god of the wilderness. And some people are trying to say that this makes him unfit for the U. S. Senate!

Yes, Invictus, a man who sacrificed a goat and drank its blood, is coming under fire in his race as a Libertarian candidate for the U. S. Senate in Florida (you knew it was Florida without looking).

Look, if we limit eligibility for public office to people who haven’t sacrificed a goat and drunk its blood in a pagan ritual to thank the god of the wilderness, we are forced to consider people like Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.

We live in an age of political dishonesty. Hidden e-mails. Hidden agendas. People who don’t say what they mean or mean what they say. (Admittedly, every age is an age of Exceptional Political Dishonesty. We have been complaining about this since the days of Aristophanes, who observed that “beneath every stone lurks a politician.”)

What we need are straight shooters. We need men who, when they kill a goat and drink its blood after sacrificing it in a pagan ritual, will step right up and admit it. We need, in a word, men like Augustus Sol Invictus.

Asked by the Associated Press about rumors that he sacrificed a goat in a pagan ritual and drank its blood, Invictus responded, “I did sacrifice a goat. . . . I sacrificed an animal to the god of the wilderness . . . Yes, I drank the goat’s blood.”

That is the kind of honesty I want to hear from more of our politicians!

As they always say, it’s not the original goat sacrifice, the goat dismemberment, or the blood-drinking ritual that gets you. It’s the coverup.

This is a man willing to dispense with the coverup. He does not run from controversy. He will tell voters even unpleasant truths.

Here’s a logo I came up with on the fly:

(This was a public domain painting by Francesco Londonio called Capra until I drew on it in Paint/ wikimedia commons)

All in all, Augustus Sol Invictus (he changed his name officially to this phrase, which means “Majestic Unconquered Sun”) is a breath of fresh air.

Okay, he thinks that the government is at war with its citizenry and Florida Libertarians complain that he’s giving the movement a bad name and trying to bring neo-Nazis into the party, but — look, I just am really impressed by his honesty on the goat thing.

Rand Paul allegedly urged someone to worship the Aqua Buddha and you don’t see him speaking openly to the AP about it. David Cameron had that #piggate — and nothing! Now, for once, there is a politician willing to disclose all his pagan sacrifices and animal husbandry failures!

Heck, I bet Solon, the great Athenian lawgiver, was constantly engaging in pagan goat sacrifices.

Sure, some people, hidebound traditionalists, would probably look at this man’s resume and say, “Sacrificing goats to a pagan deity! He doesn’t seem fit for the U. S. Senate!” To which I say — have you seen the Senate lately? If only goat sacrifice were the least of its problems.

Alexandra Petri is a Washington Post columnist offering a lighter take on the news and opinions of the day. She is the author of the essay collection "Nothing Is Wrong And Here Is Why." Twitter