I'm certainly no expert, and I guess they're not really prog, but Paul Kantner's 'Blows Against the Empire' and 'Sunfighter' LPs spring to mind, for their quasi-pastoral utopianism, revolutionary politics and sci-fi take on American frontier spirit.
I don't think there is a direct American equivalent of English prog though- just assorted brands of psychedelia, jazz fusion, avant garde and hard rock.
Shame- your idea of a fusion of Whitman, Reich and Dick sounds marvellous... true 'cosmic american music...'
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