When *you* buy into the HOA *you* agree to sign over that power to them.
I was addressing power at a more basic level.
Without the complicity of state and local governments, HOAs could not exercise anywhere near as much power over private property as they do.
If they had to rely on me to provide them with power they would shrivel and die. I would rather live free on property with depressed value and a trailer park on either side than submit to the whims of another layer of intrusive government.