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America: The Coronavirus HOA
Townhall.com ^ | May 3, 2020 | A.J.

Posted on 05/03/2020 7:43:46 AM PDT by Kaslin

Homeowner’s Associations (HOAs) are petty tyrannies but at least they’re voluntary ones.

You freely sign up to be told what kinds of shrubs or flowers you’ll be allowed to plant in “your” front yard; what type of vehicle you’ll be permitted to park in “your” driveway - and the exact shade of paint that’s acceptable to use on your mailbox.

You must beg permission – and get approval – for everything and you can be hit with punishing fines if you don't, ahead of time, even if the shrub is the "right" variety and the paint the exact same shade as your neighbor's.

But as hellish as HOAs can be, no one put a gun to anyone's head. You're free to join the community. Or not. And even if you do join it, you’re always free to leave it for greener (and freer) pastures any time you like.

Not so much the Corona HOA, which is becoming the entire USA. And which is already far more onerous than any HOA extant. No HOA decrees how close you’re allowed to stand next to a neighbor or whether you're allowed to have the neighbors over for a backyard get-together.

No HOA has the power to decree that the way you make your living isn't “essential” while at the same time demanding you pay what it claims you “owe” for such things as the property taxes on your home.

Else risk being forcibly ejected from it.

But this is the "new normal" in the Corona'd States of America.

HOAs are almost funny in comparison. They are characterized by low-rent busybodyism on the Mrs. Kravitz model. The reference is to a nosey neighbor character on the classic ‘60s TV sitcom, Bewitched. Mrs. Kravitz was always looking through the curtains to find something to gossip about.

Something to complain about.

HOAs attract this type of person, who is attracted particularly to enforceable busybodyism. Such people crave authority and the power to assert it.

It's a form of light touch authoritarianism.

HOAs are as close to an American Soviet. The word refers to a council of petty bureaucrats with not-so-petty powers in the old Soviet Union, as one could find in the United States.

Until Corona.

Which is surpassing the insufferability – and tyranny – of the old Soviet Union.

Somehow – it is a mystery how, exactly – Americans find themselves herded into an involuntary HOA they never signed any paperwork to join and which they aren’t free to leave. Martial law has not been declared and so the Constitution is still at least nominally the law of the land.

And yet, practically every right enumerated has been eviscerated, without even a nod to elections, due process or consent. Just do as you're told... Because Corona. Because we said so. And that's all you need to know.

People are no longer free to leave their homes without permission.

They have been ordered not to work – and to shutter their businesses – but they must pay taxes.

People are no longer free to associate, even on what is still quaintly styled private property, and even though no one is being forced to associate. Force is, however, being threatened – and applied – to people who dare to freely associate, including even to get together to pray while inside their cars.

Or play outside with their children in a park.

They’re not even allowed to complain about it without risking repercussions. This includes posts on social media deemed in violation of “community guidelines," which guidelines are amorphous and arbitrary; one never knows exactly what offended, just that offense has been taken and the offending account was taken down.

Far worse, they are being threatened with punishment by the government for daring to peaceably assemble for the redress of grievances, as in California.

This arbitrariness being the 190 proof essence of tyranny. Far more threatening to the well-being of Americans than a virus which – per the CDC's own admission – doesn't even produce symptoms in 85 percent of the "cases" and only produces death in about one percent of all cases.

Because Corona has become the equivalent of a chalkboard eraser, of the rights of the American people. The most basic freedoms – even the right to protest the insufferable – are being wiped off the slate as fast as the “essential” apparatchiks can wave their hand

Orwell could not have imagined a world this dark.

People in the old Soviet Union, at the height of the Stalinist era, weren’t told they couldn’t leave their homes. Weren’t told they couldn’t work. Weren’t required to practice authoritarian kabuki in the form of “anti-social distancing,” as Americans are being pressured to.

As crazy and brutal as the old Soviet Union was, it didn’t get as pathological as it is getting in America, where people are also being forced to dress up like Michael Jackson – masks and gloves – to enter a Costco.

It makes one almost wish for the busybodyism of Mrs.Kravitz, which was far less onerous than the inescapable edicts of these insufferable snitches and government minders.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: coronavirus; policesstate; policestate; shutdown; wuhancoronavirus

1 posted on 05/03/2020 7:43:46 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

Our HOA is not too bad, but I still love referring to them as the “covenant nazis”.


2 posted on 05/03/2020 7:51:26 AM PDT by Da Coyote
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To: Kaslin

People get the kind of government they deserve.


3 posted on 05/03/2020 7:51:31 AM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: Kaslin

Everyone is experiencing the demo version of Democrat Rule.
If you like it and want more, November is coming, vote democrat.

Sometimes you can’t tell people, you have to SHOW them.


4 posted on 05/03/2020 8:00:54 AM PDT by bigbob (Trust Trump. Trust the Plan)
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To: Kaslin

We finally had to fire our realtor for continuing to show us homes that were HOA’s. Do they get an additional cut from an HOA for getting someone to buy? He was very, very, insistent that HOA’s are harmless and no big deal.


5 posted on 05/03/2020 8:09:52 AM PDT by TaxPayer2000 (The United States shall guarantee to every state in this union a republican form of government...)
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To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

People didn’t vote for a lot of bad things that
came to be by judicial fiat and extralegal means

They certainly didn’t vote for Chyna to
try to kill us

They didn’t vote for the Chinese Corona
Virus to become the Karenavirus where every
little left wing Hitler wants to shut things
down


6 posted on 05/03/2020 8:13:22 AM PDT by Phil DiBasquette
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To: Kaslin
I live in a community with an HOA. Their contractors have either been declared essential businesses or they are defying the governor's orders. Our grounds have been well maintained throughout the shutdown. I also have to say there have not been any mind bending restrictions in the past from the HOA. But as this article states, people freely choose an HOA.

Don't people also freely choose their government? I believe the answer to this question leads to the problems we have. We do not freely choose the deep state and our elected officials have their hands tied in fixing the deep state - or are at least not willing to fight to correct it.

7 posted on 05/03/2020 8:21:55 AM PDT by ConservativeInPA (It's official! I'm nominated for the 2020 Mr. Hyperbole and Sarcasm Award.)
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To: Kaslin
People in the old Soviet Union, at the height of the Stalinist era, weren’t told they couldn’t leave their homes. Weren’t told they couldn’t work. Weren’t required to practice authoritarian kabuki in the form of “anti-social distancing,” as Americans are being pressured to.

He’s got a point...and I love the comparison to the current situation as a gargantuan HOA expressing all the full viciousness and ruthlessness that lies behind a nanny state.

8 posted on 05/03/2020 8:25:55 AM PDT by livius
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To: Kaslin

Actually, being the head of an HOA board is the exactly the right job for Whitmer and Newsom. Just the right level of responsibility and power for their characters and personalities to handle. How they oiled their way into much higher offices will remain one of the great mysteries of our time. :)


9 posted on 05/03/2020 8:28:22 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
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To: Kaslin

No problems here with HOAs.


10 posted on 05/03/2020 9:44:41 AM PDT by plain talk
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To: Kaslin

Based on my friends’ HOA experience, people want the perks of being in one to start with, but then start breaking the rules and expect to be ignored.


11 posted on 05/03/2020 10:09:57 AM PDT by avenir
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To: TaxPayer2000

Many neighborhoods have HOAs. Eliminating the those neighborhoods lessens the number of homes the broker can show you. Lessening the number of homes he can show you lessens the possibility of selling you a home. Lessening the possibility of selling you a home lessens the likelihood of the broker getting a commi$$ion.

It’s all about the Benjamins, baby!

You did right firing him...especially after he lied about HOAs being harmless.


12 posted on 05/03/2020 10:10:00 AM PDT by moovova
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To: carriage_hill

Ping.

Pense?


13 posted on 05/03/2020 11:34:12 AM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
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To: Kaslin

I suggest you read soviet history. Far beyond the cruelty of NAZI history.


14 posted on 05/03/2020 11:44:44 AM PDT by buffaloguy
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To: MeneMeneTekelUpharsin

“People get the kind of government they deserve.”

That’s a STUPID statement.

I didn’t vote for this, I didn’t ask for it, I didn’t approve of it.

I DO NOT deserve it.

So many many fools parrot that stupid statement that otherwise intelligent people begin to believe it.


15 posted on 05/03/2020 11:57:35 AM PDT by Nik Naym (It's not my fault... I have compulsive smart-ass disorder.)
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To: Kaslin

I live with a virtually toothless HOA. I used to go to the annual meetings until they admitted that the only legal authority they have is to sue for non-payment of the dues. Now they rarely even get a quorum at the meetings.


16 posted on 05/03/2020 8:10:34 PM PDT by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite its unfashionability)
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To: plain talk

No problems here with HOAs.<<<<<

Try putting up an American Flag and get back to me....


17 posted on 05/04/2020 4:04:39 AM PDT by M-cubed (The MSM is now the 4th Branch of Government.....)
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To: M-cubed

Sorry to hear that. No problem with that here. Of course your locale is a bit more liberal.


18 posted on 05/04/2020 7:27:36 AM PDT by plain talk
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