Pot Shots at Busybodies.

I see in the local news today that a homeowner is in trouble because of a statue of the Virgin Mary in his front yard. The homeowners association doesn't like that he didn't ask for permission to put it up, and as they have such a diverse population, well, they ought to have been asked.

You know what I think?

1. The homeowners association should go suck eggs on this one. It is well within the moral rights of private property to display unobtrusive religious icons, and quite frankly they're simply jerks trying to throw their weight around.

2. You should be careful about signing away your right to property ownership to a bunch of other property owners who really only want to be busybodies.

3. Homeowners associations are ultimately socialism writ small.

4. Sure, there are reasonable exemptions to what even a property owner should be able to do with his property. But note the word reasonable; property owners should never have to kowtow to the neighborhood simply because the neighborhood thinks they should.

5. You aren't protecting your property one bit by dictating every little thing your neighbor can do. You're just being a little Hitler, and a pretty petty one at that.

6. This demonstrates that private individuals acting privately can't always be expected to fully understand property and personal rights issues. That's why property rights should be protected by law rather than, perhaps, shallow local opinion.

7. I probably should have made this another in my curmudgeon series, but that would be too much work at this point.