Rod: What’s conservative about demanding control over other people’s property? That’s essentially what you’re asking for when you speak of “the aesthetic character of the neighborhood.” Before long, you wind up with communities that ban people from parking their big white work vans in their own driveways because these are supposedly unsightly. I used to live in a townhouse development where this actually happened (we had parking spaces rather than driveways) and it struck me as a cruel slap at working-class families. And don’t get me started about the “architectural committee” and its springtime inspections. When an HOA runs your neighborhood, however, you get to experience a little taste of socialism.