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I admire your father's patriotism and appreciate his service. Your article is a little scarce on the details necessary to be able to make anything other than a knee-jerk reaction.

Your father surrendered - voluntarily - some of his rights when he purchased a home in an area controlled by a HOA. I don't know why he purchased a home in this type of environment, because I certainly wouldn't, but among the rights one has regarding property is the right to surrender some of the property rights to a HOA.

Your father exercised his right to allow another organization to control some aspects of his property. He did this freely and by choice.

Now, from your description, it sounds like he wants to break that agreement because he doesn't like the conditions. Further it sounds like he is using his patriotism and service record as some sort of intimidation tactic, or asserting he is somehow exempt from the HOA because of the nature of his disagreement and/or his service.

Again, its difficult to tell the specifics from your article, but if true, I'm sorry but I find that reprehensible.

If he doesn't like the rules of the HOA, then he should either move to change them, or move period. The other members of the HOA have just as much right, disgusting as it may be, to live in an area without flags flying, U.S. or otherwise. See, that's the funny thing about rights. If you really believe in them, you have to let others have theirs too, no matter how much you disagree with them.

I agree with the whole “social contract” premise behind your arguement, but the fact still remains HOAs are not the end all be all of housing matters. We don’t buy a house because of the stellar record of the HOA. Nor would we over look major electrical problems with the house because the HOA is just fabulous. We buy a house because, we like it, the house or property meets our needs. The only HOA concern that most people have is giving into the mandatory HOA fees yearly...and that’s pretty much it.

When they bought the home, they did so because they liked the house and the location...he didn’t poll the neighborhood prior to moving in to it and see who didn’t appreciate seeing the American flag on a daily basis...I don’t believe most of us would...the issue sprang up after the fact. I don’t think he used his service record as an intimidation tactic, but as fact. He did serve the country, has a respect for it and those people who gave their lives in his company during his service, as well as those who still do today. Period.

If people are intimidated by that fact it is probably due to their own internal grievances about our country or inability to respect our history, country, democratic nature or American flag.

Moreover, we live in a country of majority rule, minority rights. Someone should not be required to move out of the home that they have purchased because of Article 12 subsection b code 4.5 of the HOA which apparently doesn’t like flag poles. There were two (liberals) people, who didn’t like the flag. He had the support of everyone else in the neighborhood and HOA.

I do believe in universal rights (for the most part, i.e. convicted murderers etc), but I don’t believe that one individual should be required to change their way of life to acquiesce to the minority opinion.

I don’t agree with the banning flag policy being acceptable because he signed a contract with the HOA.

No purple paint, mow your lawns, don’t fix your car, don’t put up political signs, okay, MAYBE I will concede your point.

But not the United States flag. That, to me, is the one outstanding symbol of our country and the men and women who have died to bring us its justice, freedom and patriotism, and NO ONE should ever be able to tell anyone that they cannot fly it, in my opinion, regardless of where they live.