If HOAs are your idea of expansive new freedom, I think you can probably do better than that. HOAs get a really bad rep for absolutely limiting the freedoms of

If HOAs are your idea of expansive new freedom, I think you can probably do better than that. HOAs get a really bad rep for absolutely limiting the freedoms of the people who live there--from things like restrictions on what colors they can paint their houses to restrictions on what kind of political signage they can put up. HOAs are so completely recognized as little hotbeds of conformity (and abuse of authority, like all these stories about when HOA boards get it in for one of their residents, and end up booting that person out of their home!), it's actually surprising that you're positing them as sources of more freedom for the inhabitants. And, also, I don't know how many people in these HOAs you're talking about chose them for their freedom-maximizing non-government-maintained sidewalks (which, to them, are of course de-facto commons anyway!). I imagine if you asked any of them, they wouldn't even think about it, just that they'd pay a sidewalk tax one way or another. I dunno, the whole thing keeps sounding stupid. Not that I lack imagination, but that you've gotten ahold of some dumb ideas and aren't letting go.