What I found ironic when I moved to suburban Virginia is that the same Tea Party, "Don't Tread on Me" conservatives that want to dismantle government love HOAs. I lived in a neighborhood full of them, with the most strict and annoying HOA. We were forced to wait several weeks to replace an actively leaking roof b/c the HOA had to sign off on the shingles -- even though they were the same color/size/etc as the shingles that the house was built with. When we bought the house, the previous owner had to pay fines for installing a fenced doghouse in his back yard w/o their permission.

I really enjoyed it when a halfway house managed to find a loophole in their rules and rented a house down the street. That HOA tried and failed to kick them out..