My (probably naive) take on this is that America / the American Dream is founded on this principle of individualism / "boy done good" / "everyone can make something of themselves", and thus maybe a deep fear of collectivism? So:
1) wide dislike of any sort of social support mechanism (no public healthcare, poor support for the elderly / infirm / etc)
2) long history of anti-socialism and major fear of anything more radical, "reds under the bed" etc etc
3) little funding going towards big public infrastructure projects - I had a link to a well researched article - but can't now find it - talking about how US roads, powergrid, etc, is all crumbling away because nothing has been invested in significantly for decades
4) things like private prisons, all with profit-making as motive rather than anything wider such as societal good being considered
As a lefty, this all makes me chuckle - the idea that anyone could be foolish enough to think they can do anything alone without a huge lifelong support network just seems ridiculous. Even the most "self-made" founder who "came from nothing" has had to lean heavily on buses, trains, schools, universities, medical aid, electricity, their families, friends, the internet...
As someone once said, no man is an island - or I guess "it takes a village to raise a child" - so paying it forwards or backwards in taxes is a no-brainer if you think about it rationally.
HOA’s are prominent in the US because they and the restrictive covenants imposing them were a way to replace de jure public racial discrimination and segregation with technically-private-but-legally-durable racial and cultural discrimination. The explicit racial aspect has since been made legally unavailable, but they remain a tool to enforce outward cultural conformity, which has a strong racial valence.
Or they provide for maintenance of the common areas (mowing, plowing) and maybe some minor amenities. Or the houses are basically built into a country club.
I find that the places where there are insane HOAs are just as insane in the houses that aren't under HOAs.
> Or they provide for maintenance of the common areas
HOAs do that, yes, but that's not why they are so pervasive in the US, even in non-condominium style developments, and intrusive in their government of what goes on in non-common areas.
1) wide dislike of any sort of social support mechanism (no public healthcare, poor support for the elderly / infirm / etc)
2) long history of anti-socialism and major fear of anything more radical, "reds under the bed" etc etc
3) little funding going towards big public infrastructure projects - I had a link to a well researched article - but can't now find it - talking about how US roads, powergrid, etc, is all crumbling away because nothing has been invested in significantly for decades
4) things like private prisons, all with profit-making as motive rather than anything wider such as societal good being considered
As a lefty, this all makes me chuckle - the idea that anyone could be foolish enough to think they can do anything alone without a huge lifelong support network just seems ridiculous. Even the most "self-made" founder who "came from nothing" has had to lean heavily on buses, trains, schools, universities, medical aid, electricity, their families, friends, the internet...
As someone once said, no man is an island - or I guess "it takes a village to raise a child" - so paying it forwards or backwards in taxes is a no-brainer if you think about it rationally.
Here endeth the socialist lesson.