Tag: Donald Trump

Trump Era lessons for HOA Reformers

Before you turnoff not wanting to hear anything involving Donald Trump, that would be  big mistake. A BIG mistake!  Trump is a model of successful power politics at work that have not been adopted by advocates.

There are two important lessons that should be employed if substantial reforms are the object.  First, Trump is noted for attacking his accusers raising the argument of unclean hands.

“The legal term clean hands refers to a defense in a civil lawsuit regarding a contract, which allows a defendant (the person being sued) to claim that the plaintiff (the person suing) has engaged in wrongdoing. If the defendant is successful in proving the plaintiff had unclean hands through bad or illegal behavior, the plaintiff would not be able to obtain a remedy from the court.”

This tactic is so ripe for application against rogue HOA boards and officers, including CAI and the HOA managers.  Easily demonstrated if time is taken in the course of claims to collect this evidence for the court.  And also, when advancing proposed reform bills to your legislature – CAI will be whispering in the halls of the legislature.  Let the legislators know!

Second, and very effective, is to use CAI’s words and documents against it — there is plenty of fodder. Very difficult to explain after exposing a litany of common attitudes and hypocrisy.  Look at what Trump is facing in his numerous indictments.

What are reformers afraid of?  When getting very little anyway there is very little to lose.

Democracy Is Not Guaranteed in HOA-Land

For the past 58 years, the HOA model of local community government has been “an extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic.” This model of government rejects democratic principles and constitutional protections, depriving members of their fundamental rights.[1]

HOAs have been permitted to operate and function as such by the support, cooperation, and promotion of state legislatures. HOAs are based on intentional misrepresentations of authoritarian private contracts to unsuspecting buyers. Even today the self-proclaimed leading educator on the  HOA model and operation will not address questions of constitutionality that have authoritative legal support.

In my earlier commentaries I wrote about the similarities between the social and political  culture on the national level and that of the HOA declaration of covenants, conditions, and restrictions (CC&Rs). I wrote that CC&Rs rejected democratic principles in the pursuit of enforcement in order to coerce compliance.[2]

President Biden, in his Thursday speech to the nation, reminds Americans that,[3]

“Democracy Is Not Guaranteed. “We have to defend it. Protect it. Stand up for it. Each and every one of us. . . . regardless of your ideology.”

“We just need to remember who we are. “There’s nothing more important, nothing more sacred, nothing more American”  than preserving democracy. “That’s who we truly are. And that’s who we must always be.”

There is an old truism: “there cannot be change without change.” If we are to preserve democratic institutions in HOA-Land, then the members must unite across the country and organize  to preserve democracy; there’s nothing more American. Members of HOAs are citizens of America, and that’s who we truly are and that’s who we must always be.

Learn more about unconstitutional CC&Rs and the rights and freedoms as Americans unknowingly taken from you when you entered HOA-Land. Take time to read the articles provided under Notes below.

Notes:

[1] See The intent of the HOA “bible”, the Homes Association Handbook (March 2020).

 [2] See in general, George K. Staropoli, StarMan Publishing (making references to Donald Trump).

[3] Read the Full Transcript of Biden’s Speech in Philadelphia – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Did HOA-Land contribute to the national disregard for democratic America?

“For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind”  (Hosea 8:7)

In my 2020 Rogue Presidents post [1] I warned:

“I’ve come to the conclusion that the HOA social and political dynamics are identical as we have witnessed on the broad national scale. I am not sure as to what came first, the chicken or the egg? To what extend has the HOA independent principality mentality and legal scheme contributed to the national scene? Or are the HOA dynamics just a reflection of the broader culture in America today?”

I am not a psychologist or sociologist but a student all my life of leadership in government, corporate, and military. Based on the events over the past 2 years —and showing no signs of abating  for the next 2 years — regarding the staunch, cult follower support of Donald Trump by Republicans at the federal and state levels, I must lean toward a national, cultural change in America. It has led to a rejection of the Constitution and all its principles and values that truly made America great.

America today is no better that the banana republics and totalitarian governments that hypocritical politicians  openly criticize. The guiding rule for politicians that was “to avoid the appearance of impropriety” has become outright lying to the face of the public, redefining the traditional meaning of words, as George Orwell portrayed in his book 1984, to advance the political views of the cultists as necessary for America’s survival.

To a lessor extent, but functioning in parallel with  the national malaise, are the private government HOAs. With the members exhibiting the same cultist conduct that the HOA president and board can do no wrong.

Further reading:

  1. Rogue presidents: Trump and HOAs  (Nov. 2020).
  2. Countrywide political culture cause of HOA reform failures (Feb. 2021).

Countrywide political culture cause of HOA reform failures

On this morning’s talk show, political discussion addressed the questions of the  Republican Party policy of applying strong power in order to stay in office, and what is the percent of Trump supporters who are hard core followers – cultists.  Will these dogmatic people remain loyal to Trump and to the Republican Party after the events at the Impeachment Trial?

Materials describing the growing trend toward authoritarianism[1] in America is well documented and reliable information can be found on the Internet.[2]

“There are some people [authoritarian followers] for whom the system of checks and balances are bothersome and annoying, and dislike the noise and chaos of democracy. . . . [Authoritarians] understand their role, which is to defend the leaders, however dishonest their statement, however great their corruption, and however disastrous their impact on ordinary people and institutions.”[[3]

Talmon hits the nail on the head when he writes that “Citizens of a totalitarian democratic state, even when aware of their true powerlessness, may support their government.”[4] 

 In “Part 1, The Cultural Dynamics of HOA-Land” of my HOA-Land Nation,[5] I present my analysis of  the forces at work dominating the politics within the HOA private government. 

Basically, the HOA legal structure and scheme is authoritarian in nature: strong central power, limited political freedoms, no accountability, and under the rule of man, not law. The authoritarian nature of HOA-Land is masked by a thorough indoctrination that presents a false picture of the real estate subdivision as democratic, inappropriately named a community, simply because the members are allowed to vote, as meaningless as it is.

Getting back to HOA-Land, it becomes disturbing that the application of authoritarianism and totalitarian democracy philosophy seems to fit quite well. Too well at that! [6]

HOA Consultant

* * * *

The same dynamics at work in HOA-Land[7] are well evident in Impeachment Trial II of Donald J. Trump[8] and reveal the new political forces at work in all of America. The trial brief stated, among other things,

The only honorable path at that point was for President Trump to accept the results and concede his electoral defeat. Instead, he summoned a mob to Washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue. (p. 75).

By the day of the rally, President Trump had spent months using his bully pulpit to insist that the Joint Session of Congress was the final act of a vast plot to destroy America. As a result— and as had been widely reported—the crowd was armed, angry, and dangerous.  (p.2).

President Trump has demonstrated beyond doubt that he will resort to any method to maintain or reassert his grip on power. A President who violently attacks the democratic process has no right to participate in it. Only after President Trump is held to account for his actions can the Nation move forward with unity of purpose and commitment to the Constitution. (p. 5).

* * * *

Today’s politicos are talking about a third party with Trump as its leader, mainly from Republicans.  A Gallup survey[9] shows that there is no majority party in the US, counting Independents as a party: Republicans and Democrats are about 25% each and Independents now 50%.  (In Nov.  2016 it was 27% Republicans, 30% Democrats and, 40% Independents). 

It will be an interesting new US political scenery; what will happen who knows.

How many Republicans, government officials,  and the general public supporters of Trump remain loyal after the events of the Day of Infamy, January 6, 2021?  With Trump out of office, but able to run again, how much power will this authoritarian leader retain?  It seems the Congress, the WH, and Americans in general need to examine their moral positions and ask themselves, Did I do right? Did I do the honorable thing for America?

Notes

[1] Authoritarianism: favoring complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom..

[2] See in general: Anne Applebaum, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism, Doubleday (2020); Amanda Taub, “The rise of American authoritarianism,” Vox (March 1, 2016); Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarians, 2007.

[3] Id., Applebaum.

[4] J. L. Talmon, The Origins of Totalitarian Democracy, Penguin Books (1986, first published 1952).

[5] George K. Staropoli,  The HOA-Land Nation Within America, StarMan Press, 2019.

[6] George K. Staropoli,  HOA political dynamics: totalitarian democracy (2019).

[7] HOA-Land is a collection of fragmented independent principalities within America, known in general as “HOAs,” that are separate local private governments not subject to the constitution, and that collectively constitute a nation within the United States.  Latest estimate at this writing is that some 23% of Americans live in HOA-Land.

[8] Articles of Impeachment, H. RES. 24, (2021). See House_trial_brief;  Trump answer; House answer response.

[9] Party Affiliation, Gallup (Feb. 15, 2021.