Glenn Beck is planning a $2 billion libertarian commune in texas

Popcorn time!

"On his program last night, Beck revealed that his intention to 'go Galt' is quite literal, unveiling grandiose plans to create an entirely self-sustaining community called Independence Park that will provide its own food and energy, produce television and film content, host research and development, serve as a marketplace for products and ideas, while also housing a theme park and serving as a residential community."

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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The Snowden Principle

http://twitter.com/nickmiller111 Nick Miller

I liked this game better when it was called Bioshock.
- Preston Sturges
  
  Well they’ll need a dome to keep out the “chemtrails,” not sure how they’ll shield themselves from HAARP.
- http://segonmedia.com/ Seg
  
  One would kindly need to bring a golf club.
- Bangorian
  
  Is there any chance of an alien civilization scooping the whole community up and transporting it to a distant star? If so, where do I send my donation to the start-up fund?
http://twitter.com/pomfelo Pomfelo

The first thing I thought was RAPTURE!

I, for one, welcome our new grotesque, stem cell enhanced overlords.
- http://jeremiah-cornelius.myopenid.com/ Jeremiah Cornelius
  
  I believe that this is the opening move in a game called “Waco Round II: The APorkolypse”
  - princeminski
    
    Time for the administration to reconsider that petition to build a Death Star.
    - oasisob1
      
      Or… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_races_and_species_in_The_Hitchhiker’s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Golgafrinchans
  - http://twitter.com/kpkpkp Kevin Pierce
    
    I was thinking something more along the lines of “District 9″
- fuzzyfuzzyfungus
  
  Eh, At least Andrew Ryan got shit done before everything went to hell…
  
  I’m guessing that this project will end up turning out more like the “Freedom Ship”(remember that one?), or possibly just dwindling until it is ‘finished’ in the guise of a shitty gated subdivision with a few office buildings for a fifth rate think tank that exists to keep ex-AEI guys off the street.
  - http://www.facebook.com/zerospeaks David Brantley
    
    you mean people who push an ideological message of individualism have a difficulty organizing? You. Don’t. Say.
- http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
  
  As expected, unleash the flood of commentators who have played BioShock but have never even heard of Murray Rothbard, and fancy themselves knowledgeable about libertarianism.
  - wysinwyg
    
    I don’t seem to see anyone claiming to be knowledgeable about libertarianism.
    
    Save your scorn for people who care what you think.
ToMajorTom

Rounding up all the looney birds into one central location sounds like a grand idea to me.
- Snig
  
  I’ve thought for a long time that we should be building a Space Ark B for these guys.
  - http://devojane.blogspot.com devophill
    
    We need to get those doom rumors going. …what’s that you say? They’re already flying? Good job, everybody! We’re on our way!
Bevatron Repairman

I can’t imagine anything sillier than trying to get 10,000 libertarians to subject themselves to HOA.
- Diogenes
  
  But the town meetings will be a hoot. Hopefully they’ll be televised.
  - ifolkinrock
    
    That’s what I’m afraid of. They’re almost certain to turn this into a reality teevee show (It’s Glenn Beck, duh), so they’re going to have a revenue stream that will totally skew the results of what they’re trying to do in the first place.
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      I’d rather they make a feature film of it. Stephen Baldwin can play Glenn Beck.
      - showme
        
        Just as long as Pauly Shore isn’t involved.
      - Preston Sturges
        
        Would you settle for David Arquette?
    - Diogenes
      
      Fear not. Like every other reality TV show it will progress from smiling faces, to slamming doors, and in this case, to sporadic gunfire. Less Downton Abbey than Reservoir Dogs.
      - http://tryingsense.blogspot.com/ R_Young
        
        Only much less interesting.
- fuzzyfuzzyfungus
  
  I’m sure that No True Libertarian would subject himself to such; but ‘libertarians’ seem to have a hard-on that just won’t quit for petty authoritarianism and power imbalances, so long as they can be couched in the language of contract…
  
  In this case, an HOA is basically what happens when you think that ‘zoning’ is fascist but you want control over what color your neighbor’s house is.
  - Benny the Icepick
    
    //In this case, an HOA is basically what happens when you think that ‘zoning’ is fascist but you want control over what color your neighbor is.//
    FTFY
    - http://tryingsense.blogspot.com/ R_Young
      
      In all honesty that’s biased Most libertarians aren’t racist, and they are fine with the occasional hard-working black or asian who through his or her rugged individualism has pulled themselves up by their bootstraps.
      
      Now since these minorities started with considerably less wealth (blacks usually more so than asians), they usually have to work harder, and compromise <2% ish of a given wealthy libertarian community.
      
      Which suits the libertarians just fine.
      
      It also justifies a lot of racism.
      - http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
        
        Most libertarians are well aware of the massive injustice that particularly blacks receive, and mostly from governmental systems – criminal justice, public education, public housing, etc.
        
        I think it’s fair to say that governmental oppression is much more harmful than private discrimination in America today, mostly due to the War on Drugs.Explicit anti-racism is a great reason to be libertarian.
  - http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
    
    It’s not the ‘language of contract,’ it’s the fact that you have a choice whether to sign a contract or not, that you explcitly agree to the terms and have recourse if the contract is broken, and have a choice who to sign a contract with.
    
    If the government breaks the ‘social contract,’ your options are basically fuck all. Oh yeah, you can vote, and when that doesn’t work wait four years and vote again, and just keep trying it over and over until you die.
    - fuzzyfuzzyfungus
      
      If they showed up more often when a contract of adhesion came up, I’d take that notion more seriously…
      
      Again, there is no point in denying that the semi-mythical true libertarian is against contracts of adhesion or contracts so overtly one-sided that nobody would sign them if they weren’t effectively mandatory; but the fact that my ‘recourse’ in most commercial contracts is an arbitrator of my enemy’s choice is hardly a major plank on any libertarian platform I’ve seen…
  - wysinwyg
    
    Scratch a libertarian, find an authoritarian. Or a sucker.
- http://twitter.com/LibertySnoop Liberty Snoop
  
  Glenn Speck is not a Libertarian. What ever you are, he’s that.
  - http://tryingsense.blogspot.com/ R_Young
    
    Do you mean ‘not that’?
    - Antinous / Moderator
      
      I though that it meant that Mr. Beck changes his spots to whatever pattern will squeeze the most money out of his listeners.
      - http://tryingsense.blogspot.com/ R_Young
        
        Wow, that sounds so much more meaningful and I completely missed it. Crow tastes bad.
- Shane Simmons
  
  Oh, but I’m sure there will be some reason it’s okay. “We’re entering into a private agreement, no one’s forcing us to live here,” they’ll say to themselves. Heh.
  - http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
    
    Yeah, that’s actually a pretty huge and fundamental difference…
PhosPhorious

Imagine their surprise when they realize they can’t ALL be John Galt.

If libertraians were willing to shovel their own shit, they wouldn’t be libertarians.
- septimar
  
  In the book, Galt’s Gulch’s defining characteristic is that everyone works hard. One character, I don’t remember who it was, deliberately flipped burgers before going into the Gulch because he valued honest work.
  
  It helps to actually read the books you criticize.
  - https://twitter.com/misterjayem MrJM
    
    In the book, Galt’s Gulch’s defining characteristic is that everyone is imaginary.
    - septimar
      
      Yes. Yes, they are. You get a cookie.
      - princeminski
        
        Never mind, just buy you a nice-ass doublewide and park it in any trailer park in the Panhandle. You’ll be surrounded by like-minded folks for a fraction of Mr. Beck’s probable fee. Good luck getting them to read a book, though (except, of course, for THE book [and I don't mean ATLAS SHRUGGED]).
      - Preston Sturges
        
        Read the Bible? These are the people that give the teachers of comparative religion classes fits because they “know” all these things are in the Bible that are really from the John Birch Society, Ben Franklin, Star Trek, and Shakespeare.
      - https://twitter.com/misterjayem MrJM
        
        Giving away cookies?!?
        
        How will we parasites ever learn?
    - Punchcard
      
      Come on, it is totally plausible that the only thing holding back the invention of invisibility shields, handheld x-ray machines and unlimited clean energy is a 35% marginal tax rate.
      - http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
        
        No, not a tax, rather it is all the ‘free energy’ inventors who have supposedly ended up dead with no investigation.
  - PhosPhorious
    
    As I recall, there was also a force-field around the Gulch to keep the moochers away.
    
    And there was no mention of who flipped burgers in the Gulch.
    
    I’m sure they’ll figure that out.
  - fuzzyfuzzyfungus
    
    The grand fiction of ‘hard work’ vs. ‘laziness’ is not so much that wealth doesn’t require effort (for every degenerate heir, there seem to be ten people working 100 hour weeks despite having enough money to do whatever they want); but that effort is even remotely likely to lead to wealth…
    - Preston Sturges
      
      Having been in various jobs working 65 to 100+ hours a week, none of those jobs led to anything in terms of professional or financial reward.
    - http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
      
      Effort + intelligence does lead to wealth, time and time again through history.
      
      You can work very hard with a chisel and hammer your whole life reducing a boulder to pebbles, and you won’t be wealthy.
      
      Likewise, you can work very hard your whole life and McD’s, and you won’t be wealthy.
      
      But if you work very hard at well thought out pursuits, it’s not a guarantee, but yes, you can become wealthy.
      - wysinwyg
        
        Effort + intelligence does lead to wealth, time and time again through history.
        
        The question isn’t whether effort plus intelligence ever leads to wealth but whether it consistently leads to wealth and also whether it performs better than other routes to wealth.
        
        So far, I’m not really convinced unless you define “intelligence” to mean “the ability to make money”. And then it’s kind of a tautology, isn’t it?
  - Preston Sturges
    
    >>It helps to actually read the books you criticize.
    
    Except the Beck’s fans are hilariously illiterate and devote much of their time working themselves into a lather about stuff they’ve never read.
    
    Like the Bible for instance.
    
    But they should know that atheist Rand would have dropped napalm on Beck’s rally for being the bleating sheep they are.
    - defunctionaldismocracy
      
      Illiterate in both static and fluid text. Had Mr. Beck bothered to employ a researcher with the skills of a middle schooler, he would have come up with the previous use of the title “Independence Park” – the gay cruising mecca of Israel.
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independence_Park_%28Jerusalem%29
      
      http://www.amazon.com/Independence-Park-Israel-Contraversions-Differenc/dp/0804736197/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358113502&sr=8-1&keywords=independence+park
      
      What is the Libertarian for Grinder?
    - whycantwejustloveeverybody
      
      I love that these people who worship Rand are all Bible thumpers. She wouldn’t even spit on them if she had the chance. lol
  - http://www.facebook.com/zerospeaks David Brantley
    
    I read the book. In galt’s gulch everyone received free unlimited energy. If you can do that then your libertarian society might actually work.
    - fuzzyfuzzyfungus
      
      Is there a social theory so overtly dysfunctional that unlimited free energy wouldn’t save it?
      - whycantwejustloveeverybody
        
        uh since quite a lot of the economy is based on oil if there was a sudden introduction of unlimited free energy the economy would collapse
  - whycantwejustloveeverybody
    
    He was flipping burgers because he couldn’t do what he actually wanted to do.( I forget what it was, probably monopolizing an economy) Remember that one guy (one of the many guy in love with that one girl) he worked hard and still ended up stranded on a train while everyone else partied it up in the mountains. That’s what happens to the 99% you don’t get to the promised land.
  - http://tryingsense.blogspot.com/ R_Young
    
    Ouch. Score one for this libertarian, I read PhosPhorious’s comment and cringed a bit.
    
    Much as I despise every quark in Ayn’s fanatical ideology, it *is*, as a philosophical system, much more consistent than most. Nothing is perfect, of course (SS disability checks come to mind), but the Randian dystopia/utopia is remarkably self-justifying and coherent.
    
    And may or may not lead itself to sunken cities of madness.
  - wysinwyg
    
    So?
    
    Really struggling to understand why an imaginary scenario by an inept propagandist should cause me to rethink anything whatsoever that I already know about the real world.
Fantome_NR

lots of luck to ya!
blendergasket

Right, because the Beck set comes up with so many “products and ideas”. Maybe they’ll figure out a way go grow an extra nipple and squeeze their fear and paranoia through it as some sort of drinkable (albeit likely somewhat sour) milk.
- http://whimsicalacious.tumblr.com/ Patrick McGorrill
  
  the all natural hater-ade
http://celesteagnes.blogspot.com/ Sekino

I’m sure it’s going to be a very diverse society…
- http://twitter.com/Mjausson Apel Mjausson
  
  Oh yes, there will be white men with a full head of hair and all the way to completely bald. A couple of the white men may even be Jewish.
  - http://celesteagnes.blogspot.com/ Sekino
    
    Depending on how much they tan, we may see a bit of brown…
schlocktober

Good. We’ll give your jobs to somebody a bit less ideological. Maybe they can get some work done.
Michael A

He lives in north Irving, which is pretty much as booshy as the Dallas metroplex gets, short of Highland Park or something. The chances of him actually moving to this little commune are about 0, is what i’m trying to say. He’s just a classic carpet-bagger, and now that he’s in good with the rest of the Dallas power structure, he’s cashing in the classic Texas way; Capitalizing on low land prices (due to the neverending drought) to turn some of the acres & acres of fallow former-farmland that surround the metroplex like a giant unending ocean into.. you guessed it.. subdivisions that North Dallas bankers will jump over themselves to offer mortgages on. Thats how this town works. Dallas is just a centralized collection place for all the money that these carpet-baggers suck out of the honest (& desperate) people of the rest of the state. No wonder Mr. Beck has found such a faithful audience and friendly home here in North Dallas.
- theophrastvs
  
  precisely. this endeavor will “fail” and Beck (plus a few select cronies) will walk away with a chunk of chump change (only to decry liberal government intervention if called on any of their obvious grifting)
Diogenes

It’ll be a great place for burglars with all that gold stashed. No need to worry about alarm systems because their power will go out every time the libertarian Generator-Fuel Committee can’t agree on when to refill the town’s tank.
- Preston Sturges
  
  Except the “gold” will be those whacky commomerative as-seen-on-tv ”gold clad” electroplated slugs that aren’t worth the effort of hauling away. it would be comical to see people try to spend those at the 7-11.
MsInformed

Going Galt with a theme park?
How ridiculous. “GlenBeckistan” for fun & profit.
bardfinn

I hope they have plenty of plants; when we build the dome around them so they won’t be using any air but their own air, they’ll need plenty of oxygen replenishment.
- AnthonyC
  
  As long as they grow enough food to eat they’ll have enough oxygen to breathe.
  - Flyclops
    
    Do you really expect them to be able to run a farm? That might require them to stop talking out of their ass and actually get down and dirty and, god forbid, work manual labor.
- wysinwyg
  
  Better yet, we can charge them. Then we can see if a free market economy can efficiently distribute life itself.
pitkataistelu

Makes for a pretty good premise for a novel that ends in horrible violence, somewhat like Joseph Conrad’s story “An Outpost of Progress”.

I’m probably underinformed, but I always get the impression people with very distinct ideas about (say) social issues gather under the umbrella of libertarianism. See Julie Borowski’s crazy video.
- giantasterisk
  
  Wow. She’s really bringing the crazy.
- millie fink
  
  Ugh, what an ugly person. By which I mean, entirely, the ugliness inside that she spends two minutes spewing out at the world. She also seems thoroughly confused, without even realizing it.
- https://twitter.com/misterjayem MrJM
  
  Are libertarian women required to have blue tongues?
  
  I’ll bet that’s a deal-breaker for many chicks.
- http://twitter.com/Mjausson Apel Mjausson
  
  That’s satire, right? Please tell me that she’s ironic. Please? Nobody can be that stupid, right?
  - http://twitter.com/OnceDeadFlesh Once Dead Flesh
    
    …no, it’s real. I’m really sorry.
- Milo
  
  I got to about 1:17 and then my satire-o-meter broke. Is this for real?
  
  [goes off to check out her youtube channel and WordPress blog, then reads that she works as a policy analyist for D.C. libertarian group Freedom Works]
  
  Hmm. Well, I guess this means I don’t need to get out the Kaufman-o-meter.
- Matt Palenske
  
  what’s it like living in the inertia of objectivism? yikes.
- Preston Sturges
  
  It is impossible to make explanations of libertarianism interesting, but that won’t stop them from trying. Over and over and over.
- Preston Sturges
  
  Thanks for the Conrad link!
  
  I think other writers have used that story as a launching point a number of times!
giantasterisk

My guess is that Beckistan will be a lot more appealing than The Citadel up in Idaho for one rather inane reason –as a Libertarian experiment, they won’t require you to own a gun. Sure, every last one of their potential citizens already owns a gun, but no one TOLD them they had to. This, dear comrades, is the definition of Freedom. Any 4 year old can tell you that.
- bluest_one
  
  ”Beckistan”.
  
  Love it.
- Diogenes
  
  One pack of firecrackers tossed in the street and the whole place will erupt into a blaze of gunfire.
  - Flyclops
    
    I live about 2 hours away from Dallas. Assuming this comes to fruition, I’m doing this. And getting the fuck out of there before the bullets start flying.
    - Diogenes
      
      Sarah, wake the kids! Everybody grab your guns, the neighbors have all gone crazy and we have to shoot them before they shoot us! Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition!
    - http://daruiburns.tumblr.com/ Dlo Burns
      
      Drop the fire crackers from a crop duster. It’s not like any of the could hit the side of a barn.
  - elusis
    
    I can’t wait until one of their houses catches on fire.
bardfinn

For extra fun: they must build their Internet infrastructure entirely without recourse to FOSS.
I suppose they’ll eventually get around to using bang paths, and we’ll get an email (EBCDIC encoded) saying “it was the G-23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate …”
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Mark-Clark/1292762595 Mark Clark
  
  Love the Serenity reference!
- http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
  
  Totally useless comment; FOSS is thoroughly libertarian. What isn’t is closed source software that depends entirely on legal protections for its viability.
  - wysinwyg
    
    I think I can condense your posts a bit:
    
    “good=libertarian
    
    bad=anything else”
    - http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
      
      No, quite specifically that the open source model adheres to libertarian principles better than the copyright dependant closed source model.
      - wysinwyg
        
        Yes, open source adheres to libertarian principles. Copyright doesn’t?
        
        I would think the idea that the producer of a written work should profit from his or her productivity would be consistent with libertarian principles.
http://twitter.com/the_damned_fool the damned fool

To be economically viable, this community…. er…… neighborhood…. um…..CORPORATION must start with capital generating activities, so expect a Theme Park first, with attractions such as the “Nobody Rides for Free” ride, and “Fight to the Top of the Food Chain”. A great place for those without a soul, ruthless in exploiting whatever, whoever, whenever available for personal gain. And really, isn’t that what life’s all about?
- http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul
  
  Just make sure not to equip any of those rides with a safety net.
  - elusis
    
    Theme park rides uninspected by government safety agencies – what could be more fun?
    - http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
      
      Frankly, I’d rather trust my health on the amusement park rides of a company whose survival depends on their safety than, for instance, food that IS inspected by government agencies (ie, McDonalds, twinkies, etc. etc. etc.)…
      - wysinwyg
        
        amusement park rides of a company whose survival depends on their safety than
        
        Ride breaks. Owners claim it’s the fault of the manufacturers. Manufacturers claim it’s poor upkeep on the part of the owners. You get stuck with your own medical bills. Welcome to Libertopia.
      - http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
        
        That’s what we have courts for; or some sort of victim recompensation system.
        
        If the ride breaks, it’s somebody’s fault, and probably both of their fault.
      - wysinwyg
        
        That’s what we have courts for; or some sort of victim recompensation system.
        
        But who can we trust with that kind of power?
  - http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
    
    Have you ever seen an amusement park ride with a safety net?
    
    I don’t want to ride a rollercoaster so rickety that the owners see a need to put a net below…
technogeekagain

Can we make it a gated community, with the lock on the outside? (Various SF versions of “coventry” come to mind — if you don’t like our society, fine, go off and found your own but don’t try to inflict it on us.)
- http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
  
  “inflict it on us” is exactly what statists and progressives want to do.
  
  Libertarians want mainly to be left alone; to they extent that they want to ‘infict’ anything on you, it is to remove your power to force your wil on them.
  - wysinwyg
    
    “statist” and “progressive” aren’t synonyms. If you’re going to play the “no true libertarian” game the way you are the least you could do is show the same sort of respect for points of view that you’re demanding from others.
    
    Woulda thought a “true libertarian” would know the golden rule by now.
    - http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
      
      Wikipedia: In political science, statism (French: étatisme) is the belief that a government should control either economic or social policy, or both, to some degree. Statism is effectively the opposite of anarchism.I think if a progressive didn’t agree with that, they wouldn’t really be a progressive in the commonly understood meaning of the word. They aren’t synonyms, but progressives fall in the broader purview of statists.
      - wysinwyg
        
        Wikipedia:
        “Progressivism is a general political philosophy advocating or favoring gradual social, political, and economic reform.[1] Modern Progressivism emerged as part of a more general response to the vast social changes brought by industrialization.
        
        It is left of center in the political spectrum and is to be contrasted with conservatism on the right and the revolutionary left, the former generally resisting changes it advocates and the latter rejecting its gradualism.”
        
        Weird, I don’t see anything about states or statism in there. I’ll give you a hint. “Reform” doesn’t always mean more government regulation.
Milo

So now Beck is an anarcho-communist? Exactly how does he keep his head from exploding when he speaks?
- dspl
  
  Glenn ‘Jim Jones’ Beck
abstracht

watch “libertarian” glenn beck call for the wall street bailout to be increased from $700 billion to $2 trillion: http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200909210037

the man is a fraud and sociopath.
- https://twitter.com/misterjayem MrJM
  
  the man is a fraud and sociopath.
  
  And those are his good qualities.
- http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
  
  As a libertarian, Glenn Beck is not a libertarian. He paints the rest of us with a dirty brush. He has some libertarian tendencies, but he does not deserve the term.
http://amorphia-apparel.com/ Jeremy Kalgreen

I’m all for this. I like it when people with outlandish views on how things should be get a chance to put them into action. That way we get a concrete datapoint showing how their philosophy doesn’t really work. Get enough of these datapoints together and maybe you can convince the next generation from falling for the same junk.
- chenille
  
  It would be a good example if one could imagine for a second such a project would even try to stick to libertarian principles. I’d offer very long odds on Beck doing that.
  
  Also, we have more than enough data.
  - wysinwyg
    
    Also, we have more than enough data.
    
    Yes, it’s called “history”. But libertarians just ignore all the parts that pose an inconvenience to their rationalistic moral theories.
    - http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
      
      Your definition of ‘history’ seems to be western europe, 1950-today.
      
      Countries that have been strangled by overactive liberal democratic states, such as India, Argentina, or, yes, modern USA, don’t ever into into this definition of ‘history.’
- http://www.facebook.com/heather.cristofaro Heather Cristofaro
  
  You would hope so, but I’m predicting that their failure will be thrown at whatever outside factors they decide to blame. Also there are probably going to be a ton of people outside the community involved in getting this going, all which they will conveniently ignore when it provides a good talking point.
  - http://amorphia-apparel.com/ Jeremy Kalgreen
    
    Oh, I agree. I’m sure the people that are currently on board with this idea will blame everything but the failures of their ideology, but I don’t think there is any way you can possibly try to convince the “true believers” of anything. All you can hope for is that enough of these failures and you have less people converted into “true believers” in the future.
- http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
  
  One of the greatest failures is that of the state, proven time and time again to create wars, crush their economies with debt, and grow larger and larger until they strangle their hosts.
http://excelsior-station.wikidot.com Sarge Misfit

There are a couple of pluses to this.

That will be $2billion pumped into the local economy. More given the history of cost over-runs. And that also means a lot of construction jobs. There’s the environmental pluses that go with creating a self-sustaining community, too.

The biggest plus is that, once completed, he and other like-minded individuals will have removed themselves from the rest of society.
- https://twitter.com/misterjayem MrJM
  
  This “project” will never — EVER — break ground.
  - http://excelsior-station.wikidot.com Sarge Misfit
    
    I don’t know about that. Rich wackos will spend amazing amounts of money on dumb things. Like solid gold bathtub fixtures or platinum door knobs. Why not a Beck-ville?
Diogenes

It’ll be like Vegas in The Stand.

My life for you! Bumpty-bumpty-bump.
septimar

Glenn Beck isn’t libertarian, he’s just conservative. He just pretends otherwise to be hip.
- Tynam
  
  He’s not conservative either, septimar. He is, at best, Beckist. No further coherence is possible.
  
  Really want to play Bioshock Infinite now.
  - http://thisisonlya.blogspot.com robcat2075
    
    Neither Conservative nor Libertarian. Opportunist with a microphone.
    - Diogenes
      
      Bingo.
  - Bill McGonigle
    
    God saved him from the bottle. Everything else flows from there and limits his possibilities inside his new bottle.
BariSaxMN

Glenn – don’t go away mad; just go away.
http://twitter.com/MadelineAshby Madeline Ashby

You know, I had no idea Beck was such a good listener. For years, we’ve been asking him to just go away and keep his fantasies to himself, and now he’s finally doing it. Thank you, Mr. Beck, for taking us at our word.
http://2012diaries.blogspot.com/ tristan eldritch

DON’T DRINK THE RAND-AID.
tiredofit

Wait, isn’t this just a hippie commune?
- http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
  
  Many hippies are libertarians, and many libertarians are hippies.
  
  Both are idealistic, devoted to non-violence, and have strongly held ideas about how to create a better world.
  - tiredofit
    
    Yeah, but Beck would hate hippies. He likes conservative right wing libertarians.
http://twitter.com/perizade Perizade

See, I *really* want him to build this BS town and make a reality show on it. All the men have to wear his dad jeans and bitch outside their fences a la King Of The Hill. That will be quality television!
CHilke

So, he’s going to be sort of a reverse Robert Owen?
Aeron

A self-sustaining commune that cloisters itself against the rest of the world? Very original idea… Please tell me more!
- http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
  
  You could just as easily give an example of an anarchist pre-Soviet commune that was crushed by the Communists. But that wouldn’t be so much fun…
Snig

I think this is exactly the sort of civic-minded forward-thinking project that will finally put to bed the spurious rumors that Glenn Beck once killed a woman in 1990. I don’t know why the stories keep circulating or who keeps dredging up this topic.
- https://twitter.com/misterjayem MrJM
  
  Really?!?
  
  Did Glenn Beck Rape And Murder A Young Girl In 1990?
- morcheeba
  
  You’re right. He’ll do anything to deter suspicion. Why doesn’t he just provide proof that he did not rape and murder a woman in 1990, so that her poor soul can rest easy?
http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul

Well that’s a relief.

I never thought we’d find a suitable replacement for Yucca Mountain.
Lurking_Grue

Yay! Teach us all a lesson!
machinestate

I wonder if just anyone can live there… it’s not *that* large, and some of the rights I’d demand for myself are likely going to clash with some of the rights others will demand for themselves.

I’ve never read Atlas Shrugged, but can anyone briefly tell me what happens to Galt’s Gulch?
- soylent_plaid
  
  That’s covered in Atlas Shrugged 2: Shrug Harder
- Nancy Lebovitz
  
  Highly productive inventive compatible people cooperate and make good lives.
  
  Unfortunately, Rand ends the book with the collapse of the US, with the folks from Galt’s Gulch planning on going back to the world. In other words, she leaves out the hard part.
Navin_Johnson

I’m guessing “theme park” actually means a Roman-style coliseum and circus where Beck (now calling himself “The Governor”) can watch retirees on rascals battle it out for his amusement…
- Diogenes
  
  Caligula Beck!
AnthonyC

Libertarian commune.

Huh.
- http://twitter.com/chrisjimson chris jimson
  
  “Commune”?
  
  Poor choice of words, Beck.
- http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
  
  If you think that’s contradictory, you know more about smears against libertarians than what libertarians actually think.
  
  Libertarianism and communal living are entirely compatible; it hinges on freedom to participate or not.
  
  I once saw in person a speech by no less than Ron Paul where he said just that: “Socialism and Communism are fine, as long as nobody is forced to participate.”
  - AnthonyC
    
    Do you believe libertarianism includes the right to restrict your future self from withdrawing your consent? How about your child’s right to do so?
    
    You could certainly *start* a libertarian commune, and people would freely join. However, without an enforcement mechanism- up to and including not letting people leave and rejoin whenever they feel like it – you cannot expect to *maintain* one.
http://twitter.com/OnceDeadFlesh Once Dead Flesh

I’m pretty indifferent to Glen Beck myself, but I do like watching people try to create self sustaining communities… but I also didn’t see anyone calling for his death. Nor much hate really. Maybe a little, but mostly people just trying to be witty in a comment section knowing they are mostly among peers in finding Glen Beck an assjack. I think a lot of people are jackasses, but I don’t hate them. That’d be a lot of effort. And still wouldn’t actually be ironic either.
- http://theladyfingers.blogspot.com/ Ladyfingers
  
  Orania seems to be doing fairly well. They took a lot of flak because of Afrikaner history and the implication of racism in their separatism, but all-in-all, it seems okay.
spacedmonkey

Just wait till the next climate change induced mega drought catches them completely off guard.
http://www.jeremiahblatz.com/ Jeremiah Blatz

So, wait, when you go galt you just completely disappear, right? Like nobody can find you, and you’re completely removed form society.

Can I donate to this fine cause?
http://twitter.com/crazedcatman Crazed Cat Man

Glad to see Glenn Beck has turned into a communist
- 1984
  
  Well, he did call for a 100 year plan..
- http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
  
  libertarianism and anarcho-communism are generally quite compatible, thank you very much.
webstu

Mr. Beck, you are no Brigham Young.
Preston Sturges

Beck’s tv show provided a valuable public service in that he was a readily identifiable honest to God example of a Fascist.

Becks tactic is simple – he lovingly quotes what actually Hitler actually said, then he lies and claims it was said by someone fighting Hitler. he is largely dedicated to rebranding the Nazi party as something like “the free puppies and ice cream party.”

For instance, Beck said Hitler promoted “social justice,” when Hitler really said “social justice” was a Jewish conspiracy against the white race (Mein Kampf).

In this way, Beck can get the trailer trash to memoroze and spew Mein Kampf while they think they are being anti-fascist.

BTW, the person who spoke often about “social justice” wasn’t Hitler, it was MLK, Beck’s supposed hero.

….and let me add that Beck’s conspiracy theories about the “liberals are coming to slaughter you” is the distilled essence of Nazism. Nazism was above all about the conspiracy theory about the liberals genocidal conspiracy against white people, and white’s need to act in self defense.

Maybe Beck’s followers should build some gas chambers and ovens, just to be on the safe side.
SexBobOmb

It’s not like he’s starting his own country. Labor laws, construction codes, regulation, environmental regulation — they will all apply. It’s just more crazy talk.
chgoliz

An entirely self-sustaining community of that magnitude in Texas isn’t possible. Literally.

Water is the biggest problem. I can’t seem to figure out what lake that is, but supposedly it’s “larger than Disneyland” (160 acres). That’s not as much water as he thinks it is, for an entire town of people, crops, and other uses. Especially in a state that is constantly battling against (climate change-induced) drought.

Following closely on water….this is a crowd likely to expect meat at every meal. They’re going to find that diet impossible to maintain on so little land with so little water. They might as well think of themselves as moving to Mars. I doubt they will be able to grow enough variety to sustain a healthy diet over time….or even know what a healthy diet is.

Energy is another issue. He does say they’ll invest in wind power for their energy. Here’s a map of wind power in the US: Wind Energy Resource Atlas. There’s a tiny little area near — well, nothing — southeast of El Paso that has enough wind to make a wind farm a reasonable venture. Otherwise, you could keep an open match lit for hours in almost all of Texas.

Etc. etc.

I hope he builds this dystopia, in the same way I’m glad Romney spent so much of his own money on campaigning: more money in the economy, less in their bank accounts.
- Diogenes
  
  They may take up cattle rustling to acquire their steaks. That’s how another Mormon, Butch Cassidy, got his start.
  - chgoliz
    
    Laws only apply to other people? Yep, that sounds in character.
- http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
  
  Also, note that Texas is in a water crisis because the vast underwater aquifer that has fueled their mutli-decade agricultural boom has now dried up.
  - wysinwyg
    
    Wow, tragedy of the commons. But I bet the libertarians have a solution for that one!
http://profile.yahoo.com/4F3BSTAHK4H4K53VMHGE2HYF7A Hoopty

I certainly hope they don’t have police or schools or fire stations. Those things are socialist. Well, they can HAVE those things, but everybody who wants it will have to pay for it. If only a few people want to shell out, it’s going to be really expensive – so expensive that nearly no one will be able to afford protection and education. This could be fun to watch.
- Preston Sturges
  
  You know what’s socialist? Religion.
  
  You know what’s a suffocating system of “political correctness?” Religion
- Diogenes
  
  And don’t forget roads, water and sewer. Those are socialist too.
- humanresource
  
  Crassus – the ancient Roman tycoon – used to run an entirely privatised fire brigade. The idea was to find someone whose house is burning, then bargain with them for the cost of putting out the fire. He’d often end up owning pretty much everything that was left, apparently.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Actually, he would buy the building at a discount, then have his brigade put out the fire. Owners would take the offer so that they wouldn’t be stuck with a total loss. He ended up as Rome’s largest landlord.
- http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
  
  Yeah, and they better provide food and computers and clothing too, because there is no way for the free market to provide those things, either.
http://undulantfever.blogspot.com/ Bruce Arthurs

i’m thinking Jonestown, only it ends with 800 residents poisoning Glenn Beck.
http://www.hisnameistimmy.com Tim in SF

Wait a second…

This was an episode of Star Trek! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Masterpiece_Society

It didn’t end well for inhabitants.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  I don’t think that Troi is likely to get it on with Glenn Beck, either.
http://www.facebook.com/wesley.long.904 Wesley Long

As a white man, I will never be able to truly understand what it means to be black in America, but the day Glenn Beck called himself a libertarian, I do believe I know what every black person felt the moment Al Sharpton declared himself their spokesperson.
- Navin_Johnson
  
  Sharpton declared himself spokesperson? If anything it seems to me that calling Sharpton, Jackson et al a “spokesperson” for black people is something that white people like to do more than anyone else. Also, at his core I believe Sharpton is probably a decent guy who actually wants to do some good, unlike Beck.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    Next you’ll be telling me that Zahi Hawass isn’t the legitimately elected God-Emperor of Egypt!
MrLibearian

I was literally just thinking about this before I saw this post: why not offer all of the people who feel that government is too bloated, evil, ineffective, etc. the opportunity to move to a “reservation” where they are tasked with taking care of themselves as they see fit. It will not be a requirement for them to abandon their US citizenship, nor will they be forced to remain if they wish to leave, but they will not receive support from the government in any fashion, the only tax they would pay is a small fee for the rental/use of the land. There will be strict border security, naturally. They will still be subject to US laws, however: I think the possibility of slavery cropping up is a bit worrisome.

I don’t offer this in mean-spiritedness, just as an acknowledgement that not everyone is cut out to live in society as we have constructed it.
- http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
  
  Many libertarians would be overjoyed by this; they are trying to do something similar in New Hampshire. In many ways, this is EXACTLY what we ask for. Putting it in terms like that, you might understand why I find such widespread hostility to libertarians troubling.
  
  Except for the last line; you can’t trust people to take care of themselves, because surely they would be too foolish and stupid. The reasonable prohibition against slavery would soon escalate into a prohibition against all sorts of things: prostitution, recreational drug use, then growing and eating any sort of unregulated food, and then we are right back where we started.
  
  Not to mention the factthat, in our current state-dominated world, there are more slaves than ever in human history.Governments, however, would never let it happen. The risk of it succeeding is simply too high.
  - wysinwyg
    
    Putting it in terms like that, you might understand why I find such widespread hostility to libertarians troubling.
    
    1. Not everyone who self-identifies as libertarian seems to have the same opinions you do. (Which makes the many attempts you’ve made to speak for all libertarians on this thread kinda weird.)
    2. Libertarian ideology is dangerous. While many libertarian critiques of the state are right on, the libertarian solution is fucking scary. Even if there was such a thing as a “free market” (there isn’t) it probably wouldn’t be an efficient way of distributing wealth in the real world for the reasons pointed out by Adam Smith and others besides. The “no force” moral theory is a cute thought but under libertarian thought refusing water to someone dying of thirst does not constitute force. This completely undermines the concept of voluntary participation. As long as I lack the means to feed myself I am at the mercy of whoever is willing to sell me food. If I do not own any land then I am at the mercy of those who do. There’s really no “free choice” when it comes to finding a place to live and feeding oneself. Chomsky points out that what passes for “libertarianism” in the US is essentially just the idea that power should be possessed by completely unaccountable private entities rather than barely accountable public entities. I think this critique is right on.
    3. The “moochers/parasites vs. producers” meme is tearing the nation (not the government, not the country, look it up if you’re having trouble) apart, as is the idea that one’s paycheck actually measures one’s value to society.
    
    Sorry, that was really quick and kind of scattered. I can work up a good essay on what’s wrong with libertarianism if you’re interested.
http://gmkeros.wordpress.com/ John

oh, oh oh… I desperately want to see this happen! Soon!
I’ll bring popcorn.
labman57

Just what Texas needs — another secluded, quasi-religious, ideologically-extreme cult run by a self-anointed prophet who is little more than a political televangelist with delusions of grandeur.
- Patrick Elliott-Brennan
  
  Other than that, it seems just fine ;))
Nancy Lebovitz

Considering that Beck built up fear of economic collapse to get his fans to buy his overpriced gold, I’m betting that this is some sort of scam.
http://www.facebook.com/tommybirmingham Tom Birmingham

it’s like an asshole hippy commune
- Navin_Johnson
  
  Difference between hippies and libertarians is that hippies actually do go off the grid, instead of just constantly threatening to on the internet.
  - http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
    
    You are implying that libertarians and hippies are mutually exclusive.
    
    Most hippies I have met who are off the grid are generally libertarian. Having to actually make it on the land while battling petty beauracracies will do that to a person…
Richard_thunderbay

$ 2 billion? He’s going to need a lot of very stupid investors to build his libertarian Disneyland/money pit. As others have said, there is no way that this breaks ground. I doubt it makes it beyond the soliciting of nonrefundable deposits stage.

I’m reminded of the guy who made the “Atlas Shrugged” movies, John Aglialoro. I read that he originally intended Part I to have a $80 million budget. In the end, the budgets for Part I and Part II combined ended being up a fraction of that, as he couldn’t convince any would be John Galts that his films would be a wise investment (he spent his own money as I recall). Even with their tiny budgets, the two films lost millions of dollars. In theory, Part III is supposed to appear this year.
- http://twitter.com/chrisjimson chris jimson
  
  Ohhh. . . I sure hope it breaks ground, and actually gets up and running too– it would be like a huge experiment to see how long before Libertarian ideology gets tossed out the window in order to keep the place from falling apart.
  
  That is, assuming this isn’t all just some huge scam on Glenn Beck’s part.
crummett

Between this and the Citadel in Idaho, maybe we can get some of the craziest crazies to self-deport.
John Fehr

This utopia model is similar to Jim Bakers, Heritage USA, which he spent time in jail for fraud over it.
onepieceman

I think libertarianism must mean something completely different in the USA. I’m sat here scratching my head about how on earth you can get from less intrusive government to commune. Or is this just link bait?
- chgoliz
  
  It’s the same way “conservative” means reactionary extremist and “Christian” means what would Jesus do?…we’ll do the opposite. English as Newspeak.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  Glenn Beck is link bait made flesh. Fleshy, fleshy flesh.
- http://twitter.com/librtee Sasha@librtee
  
  A commune is generally a group of people who explicitly choose to be there, with decision making done on a level where consensus and direct democracy is possible, based on face-to-face contact.
  
  Libertarianism and communes are highly compatible; statism and communes simply aren’t.
IronEdithKidd

Wait, hold the phone…Glenn Beck has some sort of broadcast media at his disposal? How the hell did that happen again?
snagglepuss_62629

I read the article, and the first thing that leapt out at me was the total lack of any requirement that every applicant to Beckistan be a super-productive genius of ANYTHING.

I thought that the whole idea of ”Galt’s Gulch” was that the most brilliant and forward-thinking members of society withdraw from said society in order to create their own freeloader-free utopia. Somehow I don’t see Beck attracting a whole bunch of high-IQ, Puritan work-ethic, advancing-the-frontiers-of-science ass-busters to his little playground.

And what I REALLY want to see, is what happens when heavily-armed teatard “patriots” who applied for membership and were turned down, show up at the front gates/airlock and DEMAND to be admitted. Because those folks always take a nice fat “Fuck Off” ever so nicely and politely.

Oh, and – Wasn’t one of the defining principles of the teabagger Shangri-La supposed to be that it was a BIG FUCKIN’ SECRET, precisely to keep the riff-raff from ever finding out about the joint and showing up uninvited ?
http://www.facebook.com/heather.cristofaro Heather Cristofaro

I smell a doomsday cult!
newhavenstumpjumper

L. Ron Hubbard + Ayn Rand = Loony Tunes!
phuzz

Pass the popcorn :)
http://evilbobdayjob.blogspot.com/ Deidzoeb

What happened to all the plans for tax-free floating Libertarian “seasteading” communities, or the giant cruise ship city that keeps circling international waters so you don’t have to live someplace with laws or taxes? :(

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3328/floating_utopias/
1984

No thanks, I’ll wait for the porn version, atlas shagged.
Cowicide

I anxiously await…
Preston Sturges

…….and that was a good use of your time?
snagglepuss_62629

MET them ? I’m RELATED to several herds of them. Yes, I’ve “met” them. And they’re absolutely certain that their beloved guns, combined with their narrow-minded social and religious beliefs, make them a law unto themselves and that anybody who claims to have discovered or created a “promised land” is duty-bound to let them live in it, if they choose to do so.

“Turned down for membership”, by the way, meant “Couldn’t make the expected admission payment”. So much for Beck’s little “Biodome” following the Randian model of the most valuably brilliant folks on the planet being invited to live there in peace and progress.

Touched a nerve there, did I, Sasha ?
PhosPhorious

Actually I do know a few libertarians, and “down to earth” doesn’t really fit.

For example, every libertarian I know sympathizes with the Confederate South in the Civil War; the feeling seems to be that the slave owners were treated unfairly, and really should have been compensated for the loss of their “property.”

Not exactly the kind of people who respect the shit shovellers. . . but I’m sure the libertarians you know are perfectly delightful people.
septimar

Just because someone calls himself libertarian doesn’t make him so (Glenn Beck isn’t). Libertarianism is incompatible with slavery. States don’t have rights, only individuals do. It is quite sad that you once again resort to call every libertarian racist, since most real racists are conservative.
PhosPhorious

Please read my comment again. I never used the word “racist.” And I specifically was talking about the libertarians I know. Your comment is inappropriate and dishonest.

As for what “real libertarians” believe: Ron Paul thinks the slave owners should have been compensated. Is he a “real Libertarian?”
septimar

No.