Is there a more appropriate place for a libertarian to be found than in a supermarket -- that commercial cathedral to the cornucopia of capitalism? Not if you're David Ruprecht. As the host of PAX-TV's Supermarket Sweeps, he spent 14 years broadcasting from a faux supermarket, dodging shopping carts as contestants snatched up the bountiful outpouring of the free market. How fitting for a man who says about his politics, "I'm a libertarian."

Being a libertarian made Ruprecht a decided minority in Hollywood. "Too much of [libertarianism] is in books, or in esoteric or academic situations..." he told the Hollywood Investigator (December 30, 2002). "The libertarian idea is great, but people aren't getting it. People are not hearing it."

When people do hear about liberty, said Ruprecht, even Hollywood liberals find it appealing. "When I'm talking to my friends and I say I'm a libertarian...90% have no idea [what it is]," he told the Hollywood Investigator. "And when I start telling them, maybe they have a problem with the gun issue, but they'll go: 'Oh yeah, the government shouldn't be in your bedroom. The government shouldn't be in your womb. The government shouldn't be in your bank account...' Even my Democratic left-wing friends, when I tell them what libertarianism is all about, they go: 'Well, that makes sense.' "

It's no surprise that Ruprecht makes sense to liberals; he and his wife were lifelong Democrats until the early 1990s. That's when they decided that "Democrats don't speak to us anymore." After listening to libertarian/conservative talk radio host Larry Elder, Rupert eventually found a new political home as a libertarian. He quickly became active. In 2000, he hosted a political infomercial for Libertarian Party presidential candidate Harry Browne, and became a card-carrying member of that party. In 2001, he joined the Board of Directors of the American Liberty Foundation, a nonpartisan libertarian educational organization. From 2005-2006, he was executive director of the Libertarian Party of California.

Ruprecht is a familiar face to anyone with a television. He hosted more than 1,000 episodes of Supermarket Sweeps before it went on hiatus in 2004. On the show, contestants answered questions about products and unscrambled brand names; the most savvy competitors won the privilege of racing through a mock supermarket, tossing expensive items into their shopping carts.

Even for those who never saw Supermarket Sweeps, Ruprecht should look familiar. As an actor, he appeared on a staggering variety of television shows, from Moonlighting to Beverly Hills 90210 to Joan of Arcadia to Days of Our Lives. He was a regular on NBC's Real People (1979-1984). In the "who-knew-that?" category, he starred as Thurston Howell IV in the TV movie The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island (1981), and on three episodes of Three's Company as Joyce Dewitt's husband (1984).

Ruprecht is also a member of the Writer's Guild of America. He wrote five episodes of the sitcom Small Wonder, and has sold two screenplays, including Finding Home (released in 2003).

-- Bill Winter

Quotable

"When I'm talking to my friends, and I say I'm a libertarian...90% have no idea [what it means]. [But] even my Democratic left-wing friends, when I tell them what libertarianism is all about, they go, 'Well, that makes sense.' " -- David Ruprecht, in the Hollywood Investigator (December 30, 2002)