A couple days ago, former right-wing Fox News commentator Glenn Beck announced plans to build a self-sustaining community that will grow its own food, generate its own energy, produce TV and film content, serve as a research and development park for products and ideas, host a residential community, and sport a theme park along the lines of Disneyland. Beck added that the community will have an educational center where children can be “deprogrammed” and elected officials can learn “the truth.” Speculation is that Beck will build this community in Texas where he lives, yet his own website states that he has toured sites in three different states, and that he has spoken to two governors about the project.

How ironic that Beck shares Oracle’s vision of a sustainable spiritual community? Truly, God has a sense of humor to implant the same thought in two such different minds. But why did Beck have to call his dream community “INDEPENDENCE, USA”?

If nothing else, Beck is a patriot. On his Fox News show, he produced a regular installment called “Founding Father Friday,” during which panels of “historians” offered alternative, Christian critiques on the enlightened leaders of the American Revolution. Indeed, Beck seems particularly obsessed with Virginia’s Founding Fathers. He wrote a book entitled Being George Washington. And he argued that James Madison and Thomas Jefferson were Christian icons. Madison, who wrote the First Amendment, wrote, “The question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles?” And Jefferson cut up his Bible to remove all remnants of Christian mythology and retain just the quotes of Jesus.

Yet, Beck has one thing right: the need for community. Unfortunately, however, he still is holding on to the old paradigm which promotes exclusivity over inclusiveness. According to the Christian Research Network, “Independence, USA will be largely isolated from the rest of the world.” Seems Beck has forgotten the glorious motto adopted by the Founding Fathers at the Constitutional Convention: “E Pluribus Unum” (From Many, One). And while Beck totes sustainability, he has spent lots of TV and radio airtime with guests arguing against the science which proves it.

By way of contrast, Oracle’s vision for Independence, Virginia is an all-inclusive, eco-spiritual, and full spectrum model of living for the 21st Century. Nicknamed the “Valley of Light” project because of its location in the New River Valley region, Oracle’s vision synthesizes the best of green building practices, energy and food production, micro-finance, education, social programs, and self-governance. Moreover, the eleven sector Valley of Light model acknowledges the inter-connectedness of all life on Earth.

Oracle doesn’t claim to have all the answers, but we’re asking the right questions. And we are soliciting input from enlightened thinkers, such as futurist John Peterson, and from visionary communities around the world, including Damanhur in Italy and PROUT communities. We also know that a truly utopian vision must be based on harmonic and holistic principles. That is why we are building the “Peace Pentagon,” which will form the heart of our future community and a fertile forum for our vision to organically grow and mature.

Beck’s vision for Independence, USA is reported to have a price tag of Two Billion Dollars. And sources tell us that he has commitments from large right-wing investors for half that sum. Therefore, if we progressives wish to build a community based on our ideals – hopefully in Independence, Virginia – we had better get busy!

Are you listening wealthy, visionary, and inspirational progressives? Are you willing to lead in the eleven sectors that compose a full spectrum, utopian community? Here is just a short list of our heroes who could lead the charge in the Valley of Light sectors:

1. Learning & Education: Noam Chomsky, Bill Moyer, Michelle Rhee, Chris Mercogliano
2. Communications & Media: Oprah Winfrey, John Stuart, Matt Tahibi, Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, Thom Hartmann
3. Art & Culture: Woody Harrelson, Steven Spielberg, Bruce Springsteen, Susan Sarandon, Willie Nelson, Bono
4. Economics & Business: Robert Reich, Warren Buffet, Catherine Austin Fits, Ellen Brown
5. Security & Peacekeeping: Hillary Clinton, Barry Johnson, Don Beck, Anjelina Jolie, Jesse Ventura
6. Justice & Governance: President Jimmy Carter, Jill Stein, John Whitehead, Amy Goodman, Jonathan Turley
7. Health & Wellness: Deepak Chopra, Mehmet Oz, Valerie Tarico, Terry Grossman
8. Food, Water & Environment: James Hansen, Bill McKibben, David Suzuki, Charlotte Hanes,
9. Infrastructure & Resources: Michael Pawlyn, Jay Shafer
10. Science & Technology: Richard Branson, Bernard Haisch, Ray Kurzweil, Bill Gates
11. Spirituality & Religion: Ken Wilber, Desmond Tutu, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Leonard Crow Dog, Brian McLaren

Alternatively, I suppose, Oracle could partner with Glenn Beck … that might not be so bad.

Friends, tell us what you think: Should Oracle and Beck conjoin their Independence Missions?