Category: podcast

Social Engineers needed in HOA-Land and all America. Are you one?

The following material is primarily based on the Charles Koch (billionaire and philanthropist) book, Believe In People [note 1]. Quotation marks and italics have generally been omitted but are used within sentences to distinguish quoted material.

The theme of Believe is developing ‘Social Engineers.’  It’s a term used by Koch by which he means a person

‘finding new ways to break the barriers and overcome the injustices that prevent others from realizing their potential.’ He continues, ‘These individuals  disrupt the status quo to help others, especially the less fortunate rise’ (p. 7).  

They’re concerned citizens, mobilizing neighbors to support good policies and oppose bad ones.  They’re elected officials — of any party — enacting laws that secure for everyone the opportunity to realize their potential and contribute to society’s progress (p. 7).

You are a social engineer when ‘fighting a harmful public policy that’s affecting your family, friends, or neighbors’  (p. 7).  Homeowners in HOA-Land  are ‘less fortunate’ and are subject to top-down authoritarian governments.  Read on!

. . . .

With this preface material, what is the social and legal task before homeowner rights advocates and other concerned citizens?

A properly functioning government is a precondition for individual success and a thriving society (p. 13).     You’ll see the widespread assumption that those at the ‘top’ know best and that the people they consider beneath them can’t be trusted. This can be summed up as a top-down or one-size-fits-all approach  (p. 5).

If we are to go beyond fighting injustice one person at a time, then the core institutions of community, education, business, and government must be transformed (p. 243). Transforming these institutions so they consistently empower people to succeed is the job of Social Engineers (p. 10).

With respect to HOA-Land, see on Amazon [note 2], my Commentary [note 3].

Notes

  1.  Believe In People, Charles Koch & Brian Hooks, St. Martin’s Press, 2020.
  2. A Plan Toward Restructuring the HOA Model of Governance.
  3. Plan to Restructure HOA model.

Restoring the lost Constitution to HOA-Land

Some 23% of Americans live in HOA-Land, that collection of fragmented independent principalities known, in general, as HOAs. Overwhelmingly their members swear by the HOA as the next best thing to Mom’s apple pie. It is hard to accept this undying loyalty to the HOA and its board of directors in view of the fact that their acceptance of HOAs is the result of an intentional indoctrination by national lobbying, business trade group that, in my mind, does not know how to spell “constitution.. Obviously then, those CAI surveys are suspect.

HOAs are separate, local private governments not subject to the constitution, and collectively constitute a nation within a defined geographical region known as the United States. “A nation consists of a distinct population of people that are bound together by a common culture, history, and tradition who are typically concentrated within a specific geographic region.”

“Public policy today rejects constitutional government for HOAs allowing them to operate outside the law of the land. The policy makers have failed to understand that the HOA CC&Rs have crossed over the line between purely property restrictions to establishing unregulated and authoritarian private governments.”

To provide the ignored but important and substantial aspects of the HOA legal scheme I have designated three books by StarMan Group under the collection, “Restoring the Lost Constitution to HOA-Land.” They are 1) HOA Common Sense: rejecting private government, a summary of 6 constitutional defects, 2) The HOA-Land Nation Within America, presenting the scope of outlaw private governments that deny constitutional protections to HOA members, and 3) The Plan to Restructure the Model of HOA Governance that advances a plan to restore the Constitution to HOAs while keeping the desired benefits of the “real estate package.” (All the above can be found on Amazon.com).

For a historical perspective of HOA-Land, see:

  • The Homes Associations Handbook (ULI, 1964). Not publicly available but I have a copy of the 434 page document).
  • Privatopia: Homeowner Associations and the Rise of Residential Private Government (1994), Evan McKenzie.
  • Community Associations: The Emergence and Acceptance of a Quiet Innovation in Housing (2000), Donald R. Stable. (ULI and CAI production).

(All the above, except for the Handbook,  can be found on Amazon.com).