A very important and lengthy exchange on substantive matters regarding the HOA legal structure and concept can be found on Evan McKenzie’s The Privatopia Papers blog. The topics of discussion are the legitimacy of private HOA government and the validity of CC&Rs as contracts.
Participants, as of this writing, including McKenzie, are Tyler Berding, a California attorney, and homeowner rights advocates Fred Pilot, Fred Fischer and yours truly. The discussion is under the heading, “Do owners believe CC&Rs are contracts?” in the January 2012 postings. The debate was triggered by Pilot’s post of December 31, 2011, commenting on a article wherein he states, “That’s because people don’t see HOA covenants — a real property contrivance — as contracts,” and, “In addition, many property owners don’t see HOAs as legitimate governing authorities.” There are an additional 10 comments on this posting as of this writing.
Follow the debate at The Privatopia Papers.
Thanks to Evan McKenzie, author of Privatopia (1994) and Beyond Privatopia (2011), for publicizing this important debate.
HOA Constitutional Government 
Saturday, December 31, 2011 HOA convenants not generally regarded as contracts Posted by Fred Pilot at 9:57 AM privatopia.blogspot.com/2011/12/hoa-convenants-not-generally-regarded.html
Monday, January 02, 2012 Do Americans consider CC&Rs Contracts, Revisited Posted by Evan McKenzie at 1:55 PM privatopia.blogspot.com/2012/01/do-americans-consider-cc-contracts.html
Monday, January 02, 2012 Do owners believe CC&Rs are contracts, part trois… Tyler Berding tried to comment my long post in response to the Pilot/Berding exchange, but Blogger rejected it as too long. I am posting Tyler’s response here: Posted by Evan McKenzie at 10:24 PM privatopia.blogspot.com/2012/01/do-owners-believe-cc-are-contracts-part.html
Wednesday, January 04, 2012 George Staropoli on the “Do owners believe CC&Rs are contracts?” debate From George Staropoli comes this response to the Pilot/Berding discussion: Posted by Evan McKenzie at 9:48 PM http://privatopia.blogspot.com/2012/01/george-staropoli-on-do-owners-believe.html
Wednesday, January 04, 2012 Fred Fischer on the “Do owners believe CC&Rs are contracts?” debate Fred Fischer weighs in: Posted by Evan McKenzie at 9:49 PM http://privatopia.blogspot.com/2012/01/fred-fischer-on-do-owners-believe-cc.html