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Inside Independence, USA, Glenn Beck’s proposed self-sustaining city and theme-park hybrid
The National Post ^ | January 22, 2013 | Katrina Clarke

Posted on 01/27/2013 12:05:12 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

There has been a Utopia, Ohio, and there still exists a Utopia, Texas. In a country with a long history of creating idealistic communities, America may soon see another added into the mix — a city rooted in America’s past, or at least Glenn Beck’s version of it.

Mr. Beck, the outspoken conservative U.S. media personality and commentator, this month outlined his proposition to create a self-sustaining city and theme park hybrid. Independence, USA represents a harkening back to a time of a simpler America and would be built on values he sees the country as now “going away from” — freedom, truth and responsibility,

“It is the rebirth of our nation through its own principles,” Mr. Beck said on his syndicated Glenn Beck program. “You can come here and we will show you the truth of the ideas and the ideals that created this country.”

His proposed $2-billion city would be based on a free-market, limited government model. No location has been pegged down, but Mr. Beck has visited “three possible sites in three different states” and has spoken to two governors, said Mr. Beck’s TheBlaze TV website.

The self-sustaining city would include a ranch for food production, a media centre, a multi-denominational mission centre, a theme park, a research and development centre, a library, parks and baseball diamonds. It would have a communal marketplace that would serve as a public space for conducting small business and sharing ideas. Americans could either live in the city’s residential area or just come to visit.

The concept was partly inspired by Galt’s Gultch, the utopian community in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, and by past initiatives proposed by Walt Disney...

(Excerpt) Read more at news.nationalpost.com ...


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: atlasshrugged; galt; glennbeck; lds; mormon; talkradio
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To: Hardastarboard
Rush seems to have changed since the election as well.

Both have seen their advertisers get bullied-away.

41 posted on 01/27/2013 6:18:47 AM PST by Does so (Progressives Don't Know the Meaning of INFRINGED...)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Isn’t this how America began?

Sure, the Pilgrims could’ve stayed home and fought the tyrants - and lost. But instead, when they saw a chance for self-government and freedom, they took it in spite of the cost.

There’s a good deal of bashing of “closed communities” on FreeRepublic. HOAs are a great example. Yet despite their flaws and occasional abuses of power, these are at least attempts at self-government. Why should that be so objectionable on a site like this, where we rail constantly against big government?

Beck’s experiment might turn out like the disappointing “Free State Project”, which aimed at a political takeover of New Hampshire to promote freedom. Libertarians screwed that up, it seems; and Beck leans in the same direction. The Pilgrims weren’t so foolish, so they at least avoided one major poison of freedom.

The ability - and the right - of self-government are the underlying principles of the Declaration and the Revolution. They’re not “utopian”; they are what permit and promote freedom and a free republic.

I never cared much for Beck’s radio show. But from what I saw of him when he was on Fox, this Independence, USA idea fits the direction he was headed. We might not agree with that direction, but at least he’s not one to sit still a la Rush or Boortz, et al.


42 posted on 01/27/2013 6:22:28 AM PST by LearsFool ("Thou shouldst not have been old, till thou hadst been wise.")
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To: Gadsden1st
It's time for all real Patriots who hold influence to start admitting the truth about our current situation, and start talking about realistic solutions outside the broken system.

The politicians and commentators who were willing to place themselves in these leadership roles in the past are now obligated to risk their lifestyles to tell the truth. Those who continue to spread false hope even now are only helping the enemy.

The Drudge Report was reporting a lot of great headlines, and related pictures that weren't politically correct, but were accurate to the times we face. Now it looks like they have backed off of that approach. I don't know why.

Conservatives can't fear being blamed for things just because they are telling the truth. The msm will slander them regardless, and if it only takes one person to destroy a movement then we are doomed to fail. The msm is the enemy, and it's a formidable one.

www.OathKeepers.org

43 posted on 01/27/2013 6:22:35 AM PST by ThermoNuclearWarrior (www.OathKeepers.org/oath/)
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To: SeminoleCounty
*** We did not retreat from the Brits, Spanish, Germans, Soviets ....the heck I am retreating from liberals, illegals, criminals, etc.. Bring it on ***


44 posted on 01/27/2013 6:27:12 AM PST by Condor51 (Si vis pacem, para bellum.)
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To: SueRae

‘zackly.
Southern Man don’t need him around, anyhow...


45 posted on 01/27/2013 6:52:05 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks (In the game of life, there are no betting limits)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
How does Glenn propose to keep Galt’s Gultch out of the reach of the Fed, State, and County governments? They will still control everything just like living in any other USA city - wouldn't they? Would the city secede from the USA and the state?
46 posted on 01/27/2013 7:07:25 AM PST by Cheerio (Barry Hussein Soetoro-0bama=The Complete Destruction of American Capitalism)
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To: LearsFool

While there might be a “coming storm”. Maybe what the Pilgrims did is closer to what conservative minded Patriots can do. We are being persecuted, or will be. If there was a civil war, what would the sides be, and would we ever be able to re-establish the ideals of the founding fathers successfully again. I have serious doubts about that point. I just think there is way to many takers and now socialists.

I think Pat Buchanan is right this country will Balkanize along political idealogies and racial as well.


47 posted on 01/27/2013 7:08:27 AM PST by castlegreyskull
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To: LearsFool
*** There’s a good deal of bashing of “closed communities” on FreeRepublic. HOAs are a great example. Yet despite their flaws and occasional abuses of power, these are at least attempts at self-government.***

You Betcha

Since my bride and I bought this, our one and only home, we have lived under the rules and bylaws of an *evil* HOA. And ... tada ... we've loved it! Those rules and bylaws were in fact the reason we decided to buy and stay here for 35 years while we raised our family. And we ain't planning on going anytime soon.

People forgot or overlook the fact that an HOA: Home Owners Association, is made up by .. duh .. our fellow neighbors and homeowners. And any one of us can run during the yearly election to be on the board of said *evil* association. And at the monthly meetings we can freely attend and VOTE on any proposed changes.

Has it all been a bed of roses and a perfect utopia during those years, no. Some years there were real jackwagons on the board but they didn't last long. On the other hand we also don't have Cars up on blocks in the front of our homes, Pink garage doors, Broken windows, or Pickup Trucks used as swimming pools.

So you're spot on, WE have as best can be, a self governing community of like minded people. And it's a DIVERSE one with every race, creed, color, age group, and 'persuasion' represented. Our street, a cul-de-sac, is a mini United Nations --- except we all get along. And those that can't and couldn't -- moved.

Natch I typically stay off those HOA bashing threads.

48 posted on 01/27/2013 7:25:19 AM PST by Condor51 (Si vis pacem, para bellum.)
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To: ThermoNuclearWarrior

Conservatives lost the election, probably because a few million conservatives who voted for Bush stayed home and perhaps a million military votes weren’t received in time. Democrat votes were inflated by the dead, the felons and the illegal aliens. If all of this was undone, Romney might have squeaked in a victory.
The truth is that it would barely be a victory. And with demographic shifts such as DREAM Act and erosion of the conservative population via entitlements and public schools, we’re losing a culture war.
I wonder if we’re approaching the point of Conservative ghettos and rural enclaves, because being conservative disqualifies you from certain jobs, workplaces, etc.
I don’t think Glenn has put enough thought into an economic model or base for his planned community. I do think the conservative enclaves are a good alternatives. We have American Heritage Girls as a relatively new, traditional alternative to Girl Scouts; Boy Scouts still stand. We have private schools, and home schooling is on the rise. Like-minded communities are a bastion from the increasingly hostile society.


49 posted on 01/27/2013 7:54:46 AM PST by tbw2
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
These types of ideas for self-sustaining communities are based on great Patriotic ideas for the most part, but should be started at the most local levels of communities all around the nation, instead of one new giant utopia. Prepare your local community to survive and fight what's coming

Those who live in counties with Sheriffs who have pledged not to enforce unconstitutional laws must now ask them if they will protect residents against federal law enforcement who attempt to enforce those laws. Then a plan of dealing with that situation should be talked about. Local law enforcement and armed residents need to be organized to work together.

While the msm has smeared the word “militia”, and has changed the way they are viewed by many, they are still important. There have been some great modern advances within the patriot movement based on that, but I wonder if too much organization has been lost by the real fear of being compromised by the government. A much larger number of smaller less public militias made up of neighbors, built on the same model as a neighborhood watch, seems like a good idea. These types of militias can't be expected to have the quality of a military combat unit, but neither did most militias from our past.

I think organization is needed at some level to keep order among everyone. This local organization may just include some friends and family, but is something I see as crucial. Many will need to provide some leadership for those people around them in the immediate aftermath of a sudden event. Even some of those who think they are prepared will panic when they get cut off overnight.

www.OathKeepers.org

50 posted on 01/27/2013 8:02:32 AM PST by ThermoNuclearWarrior (www.OathKeepers.org/oath/)
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To: SubMareener

“After you understand that, then you have to come up with a way to undo it all without a full scale revolution, because the Progressives are counting on chaos to finalize their control of the country.”

Theoretically, in order to reverse the damage done, we would need to reverse the progressive legal agenda for the last century, and that means getting rid of the progressive income tax, federal reserve, reversing changes to divorce laws, overturning Roe vs. Wade, getting rid of the Dept of Education, etc. This is probably not going to happen. I’ll keep voting for anyone who might try to accomplish that, and I’ll keep publicly advocating those measures, but I don’t have any real expectation that they will ever get implemented short of a great upheaval in society.

We’re on the downward arc of our civilization, and civilizations hardly ever experience the kind of renewal that can “short circuit” that natural progression. If we want to stop the decline, creating such a revival movement in the spirits of Americans is the only hope. I don’t know how that might happen exactly, but creating a preserve, a little historical reenactment village for traditional Americanism, is not going to do it.


51 posted on 01/27/2013 8:05:30 AM PST by Boogieman
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Comment #52 Removed by Moderator

To: WinOne4TheGipper

The problem with that idea is that it’s impossible from a legal standpoint. Thank Lincoln and his absolute Federal supremacy for that. You just can’t create a little town, anywhere in the US, that would have the kind of laws that would show how liberty works. You’d still be subject to your Federal masters, no matter how free the local laws are.


53 posted on 01/27/2013 8:18:03 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: Errant
His morning radio show is more about meaningless prattle,

It's getting hard to listen to.

54 posted on 01/27/2013 8:36:57 AM PST by riri (Plannedopolis-look it up. It's how the elites plan for US to live.)
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To: tbw2
We have a history showing we haven't even gotten close to stopping the spread of liberalism. The mainstream media propaganda machine seems to be one of the primary reasons behind this. Alternative media isn't close to reaching the numbers of the msm, but it's vital if we ever take the drastic action needed to even have a chance at salvaging anything good this nation was built on.

The best outcome is a new union or alliance of Conservative areas around the nation. We have talked about state succession, but haven't talked much about breakaway areas within states that might be necessary in many instances.

www.OathKeepers.org

55 posted on 01/27/2013 8:43:41 AM PST by ThermoNuclearWarrior (www.OathKeepers.org/oath/)
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To: Boogieman

How about Independence, USA as part of a that revival? Beck has ADHD so he can do more than one thing at a time.


56 posted on 01/27/2013 8:58:52 AM PST by SubMareener (Save us from Quarterly Freepathons! Become a MONTHLY DONOR!)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Never work because limited government means no kick back to the senate and congress critters,and lobbyists would be out of a job.


57 posted on 01/27/2013 10:40:37 AM PST by Vaduz
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To: ThermoNuclearWarrior

We’ve socially shifted gears to surround ourselves with like minded people. Daughter is in American Heritage Girls, not Girl Scouts. Private Christian school. Play dates are with friends from Boy Scouts, American Heritage Girls and church, not neighbors.
Instead of isolation, it’s a social shift to create a community that agrees with us. I can’t save everyone else, but I can try to give my kids a community in which they belong.


58 posted on 01/27/2013 10:52:25 AM PST by tbw2
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To: Celtic Conservative
"It's human nature. Hard to have a utopia with human nature being what it is."

Exactly. Those who want to live in a cocoon with only those who they "think" are like-minded, are in denial, and will continue to have to be mugged by reality. Sad, really.

59 posted on 01/27/2013 10:57:16 AM PST by Matchett-PI (You know how to stop abortion? Require that each one occur with a gun -Rush Limbaugh)
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To: blueyon; itssme
I would be for living near like minded people and as the bible says “come out from among yea”

I think maybe this is what Glenn had in mind with his ideas of a real life 'Galt's Gulch'. The reality of big government and a large dependent organization, probably forced him towards the theme park substitute. The world is at the end of an age, IMO. I'm not sure what lies beyond this one when it gasps its last, but things will be much different; hopefully much better with freedom for all who inhabit this world.

Maybe utopia will become reality for the next 1,000 years after a period of horrible tribulation. The tribulation is what we need to focus on getting through first. I'm not sure what to do, except get your butt out or the Middle East (including Israel), NYC, or DC! Maybe other US metropolitan areas as well.

I have seriously considered and researched moving to another country, deeper into this one, or even going to sea. Not sure what God's will is, but I am trying to figure it out and listen. Personally, unless God wants his remnant spreading into other parts of the world, putting up a fight here, better appeals to me.

Common sense dictates that like minded folks need to congregate somewhere for protection and pooling of resources, or to honor the command to “come out from among yea"; it does look like we're destine for a worldwide turmoil that's never been seen before. How else can you explain someone like BO becoming president of this land.

Many, I'm certain, will receive the same protection God place around Daniel while in the furnace. It's written to go inside and close the door during this period. So it might be wise to be prepared in the event that stores are close for an extended period.

Just a few rambling thoughts I've had; if y'all figure out what to do, please let me know... :)

60 posted on 01/27/2013 11:06:01 AM PST by Errant
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