August 17, 2005
Dear SacBee Editor,
Curtis Sproul’s letter called for the protection of CIDs as if they were a threat to the national security of California. Save the CID from government legislation and interference with a private association, he seemed to be arguing.
This “hands-off” treatment of CIDs, as if they were principalities with their own private constitutions and laws, ignores the fact that CIDs are undemocratic and are foreign to fundamental American values and principles. Just because a homeowner can vote doesn’t make the CID a democracy — you can vote in Cuba and China. Where are the separation of powers, the checks and balances, and the due process and equal treatment under the law protections of the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution? While they apply only to government entities, they do not apply to private contractual governments.
What is the reason why CID special interests oppose the application of the US Constitution protections to homeowners? Surely not for national security reasons. Maybe they realize that a concern for the American belief in individual rights and freedoms, protections that are lacking the declarations and in the CID legal scheme, would result in the loss of the power to coerce and intimidate homeowners into compliance. Such typical devices, sadly sanctioned by the state, are foreclosure and financial ruin through liens for fines.
These 14th Amendment protections must apply to CIDs, and CIDs must accomplish their goals of property value protections under the American system of government.
[unpublished]
HOA Constitutional Government 