Megalomaniac Glenn Beck Wants To Start A Libertarian Commune?

Glenn Beck wants to create a utopia.  A new unincorporated town in America called Independence, USA.  Beck’s vision is an idyllic country town of likeminded people living together in the most pastoral way possible. He wants people to live off the land, build things, and for fields to be everywhere so children can play freely.  Perhaps the most interesting part of the proposal are Beck’s ideas on education: he wants kids to start apprenticeships where they can learn real skills as soon as they feel ready. That seems appealing because, as Beck notes, American education is completely messed up these days.

The leftist think tank, Mother Jones, calls Beck’s plan a desperate cry for attention: “Beck is doing whatever he can to remain relevant in a post-Tea Party political climate.” Factually, Beck’s website theblaze.com is still much more relevant than motherjones.com though.  So this criticism seems a bit vitriolic.

Perhaps the greatest attack on the idea might be how this is essentially a commune and communes ultimately are at best undesirable and, at worst, they block people off from the rest of the world, eliminating difference and breeding an unattractive groupthink. This is true for communes founded on “far out” liberal ideals, to cults, to libertarian dreams of independent states like Beck’s Independence, USA.

Still, the fact we can in America form communes is something to be celebrated. Keep dreaming.