In the one week since seeking support for a White House petition to declare people living in HOAs still citizens of this country, only 50 have submitted a petition. I would like to thank those special 50 persons who took a simple step to fight for their rights. And your rights, too.
Homeowners living in HOAs and the people at large have spoken, or more correctly, have spoken with their silence. Homeowner rights advocacy is a myth, as is the America being taught to your children or grandchildren in public schools. At the local government level, government by business driven, profit-seeking organizations with their adhesion Declaration of CC&Rs contracts are becoming the norm for local government in America.
Political scientists like Robert H. Nelson, and none other than The Goldwater Institute in Arizona, have supported local government by restrictive covenant contracts that are not subject to the US Constitution.
Over the years I’ve tried to present, discuss and explain the fundamental issues of our constitutional democratic government with respect to homeowners associations. There is nothing more I can say or do. You have spoken.
Welcome to the New America of HOA-Land.
Learn to accept and love your HOA. It’s here to stay.
Earlier this month the people voted and chose the direction that this country should take. Today, YOU can choose the direction that you want HOA private governments to take by signing the We the People petition.
We are asking Washington to declare that the people in HOAs are still US citizens with all the rights, freedoms, privileges and immunities of citizens. Or, by not signing this petition you are choosing a continuance of another 48 years of “same ol’ same ol.’”
It is a well documented fact that state legislatures have not and do not support your rights and freedoms once you buy into an HOA. It is a well documented fact that state legislatures permit HOA de facto governments to deny and strip you of your rights. Their justifications fail to meet accepted US Supreme Court tests of the surrender of your rights and freedoms.
Only the Federal government can act to put things right. Our petition is a simple request that HOAs be subject to the US and state constitutions like all other governing bodies – towns, villages, cities, special districts, etc. This is not a democrat/republican or conservative/liberal issue, but a legitimate argument to uphold the people’s rights and freedoms as set forth in the US Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights.
Only your voice can make things happen! Speak up today! Your submitted petition is needed to help set things back on course as the Founding Fathers intended. Your submitted petition is needed to create a dialog between the people and their elected representatives in Washington.
Submit your petition at http://wh.gov/IlTM (Expired Dec. 21, 2012 with a pitiful 76 petitions).
As a long-time advocate for constitutional local government I am greatly disturbed by the existence of local governments that exist and function every day throughout America, but are not subject to the US Constitution. They are known as homeowners associations. Special interests have effectively campaigned not to have HOAs viewed as a second form of political government, but this effort is misleading and self-serving.
HOAs do provide a beneficial service to the community, but at the cost on an unknowing surrender and waiver of basic homeowner rights and protections – the misleading aspect of the statements made by pro-HOA special interests. However, the benefits of HOAs can be obtained within our constitutional system of government, which provides protections that are absent in the imposed profit-seeking developer CC&Rs contracts.
I ask each of you to consider the following question:
Is it proper for the state to create, permit, encourage, support or defend a form of local government of a community of people that is not compatible with our American system of government?
The answer to this question by state legislatures has been, Yes, thereby permitting HOA secession and establishing the HOA as an independent principality.
As stated in the We the People petition to the White House, state legislatures have failed to uphold the Constitution and protect homeowner private property rights, and their privileges and immunities under the Constitution. In view of this default, only the Federal government can provide this protection. It is a necessary and legitimate function of the Federal government to protect your rights and freedoms without overburdening contractual rights.
Let Washington know that we arestill citizens of this country; we are still Americans!!
Please read and sign our We the People petition that can be found at: Petition. Because of the limitations on the We the People website, you can read rhe complete petition at: FULL PETITION
(Expired Dec. 21, 2012 with a pitiful 76 petitions).
The Obama Administration has provided a grass roots internet petition service at “We the People” (https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petitions). If 25,000 petitions are received within 30 days a response is promised. There are petitions from groups in 47 states seeking permission for the state to secede from the union — not all having reached the response level — except for New Hampshire, Iowa and Alabama.
Now understand that the estimated 324,000 HOAs with 63 million people (20% of the population) have already seceded as these private contractual de facto governments are not subject to the US Constitution as all other government entities, including state municipalities. Problem is, they represent only a portion of the population of each state giving rise to what amounts to independent principalities within the states’ borders. Each state is not a unified state under the state’s constitution or the US Constitution. If a state does secede, it will still have parts of its population that have already seceded from the state.
And we talk about illegal immigrants taking advantage of our rights, laws and entitlements. It ain’t fair to let these HOA illegal aliens not subject to the Constitution have access to what bona fide citizens are entitled to! Not only that, many states give HOA outrageous property tax breaks for all those private amenities while the state is in desperate need of funds. (Like anything else in this world, so long as the homeowners continue to pay their property taxes, “double taxation”, the state will look the other way).
No, let’s take care of secession within the states before we deal with secession by the state itself.
Marshall Will Kane (left) throws his badge to the ground with disdain after defending Hadleyville, where the good people of Hadleyville stood by and did nothing. (The 1952 movie, High Noon).
Some 60 years after the events in Hadleyville, thousands of HOAs follow in the footsteps of the Hadleyville townspeople and do nothing to rid their HOA of lawless rogue boards of directors.
How did this come to be? Could it be like the townspeople, they FEAR reprisals from a lawless, vindictive and punitive board? Could it be the indoctrination into obeying authority figures and the acceptance of imposed roles to conform to the group’s rules, right or wrong (See, “Why do people harm others in HOAs?”)?
Could it be a malaise, a general apathy as described in The HOA apathy affliction: a political dynamic and The role of the HOA apathy affliction in circumventing public policy on how the HOA lawyers work apathy in their favor? While these acts describe a particular aspect of HOA oppression, in total, it must be understood that the pro-HOA laws (no punishment for board violations) and the unconscionable adhesion CC&Rs contract favoring the HOA contribute to the failure to develop a bona fide community spirit and a community centered civic virtue.
The development of a healthy community spirit and civic virtue are essential to eradicating apathy. Virtue can be defined simple as “conformity to a standard of right,” civic virtue as “a commitment to democratic principles and values,” and community spirit as “an involvement in and concern for one’s local community.”
CAI defines community spirit as having “pride in a community” and offers steps to produce this emotional identification: getting involved in activities outside the HOA, holding entertainment party and events, and becoming active in the community (Best Practices, “Harmony and Spirit”). No mention at all about civic virtue as a necessary part of creating a healthy community, and that a concern for the community must address issues of civic virtue.
How can civic virtue and a healthy community spirit develop when the homeowner is placed in an environment and culture that opposes any such proactive activities? As investigative reporter Ward Lucas points out in his new book, Neighbors At War!
Welcome to the weird world of HOAs . . . where life, liberty and property are in the hands of your neighbors, neighbors who are unconstrained by law . . . . That’s right! These boards for the most part are not obligated to protect or respect any human or civil rights. . . . The very structure of Homeowners Associations gives them the ability to exert bully power on a completely arbitrary basis.
The apathy, the lack of HOA civic virtue, and the lack of a genuine, healthy community spirit that allow lawless rogue boards to violate the law and governing documents is the result of the above mentioned HOA legal structure and dynamic forces. The legal structure of the HOA is secessionist, rejecting the principles and values of the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence for a fascist contractual government focused on maintaining property values. Where, as in fascism, individual rights, freedoms, and privileges and immunities guaranteed to all citizens do not matter.
HOA Constitutional Government 