A red flag for HOAs

If you want to know who's on the "outs" in society, check the list of villains in recent movies. And if you check the animated film "Over the Hedge" by DreamWorks, you'll learn that home owners associations — and the people who police for them — are among the current crop of souls getting "boos."

No one questions the need for rules when people share the same walls in their living quarters. Doing things a certain way keeps the value of everyone's property up, discourages tastelessness and greases the wheels of a tiny community. That's why HOAs are formed. But as with most things in life, the rules can easily become the focus — not the quality of life they're meant to enhance.

So Kevin Capito of Draper found out when he hung an American flag above his door to celebrate, well ... to celebrate America. The property management company representing the HOA was quick to act. He'd hung a flag holder on his condo — a codified no-no. But Capito had an ace up his sleeve. He knew about the Freedom of Display Act of 2005 that prohibits HOAs from denying people the right to fly the flag on their own residential property. His HOA claims they objected to the mounting device he used and wonders, aloud, if maybe Mr. Capito was simply trying to make a point. They say if Capito does the paperwork, all will be forgotten.

Was Capito simply making a statement? Perhaps. But sometimes it's a statement that needs to be made. The Boston Tea Party began as a tempest in a tea pot. It came about because Americans didn't like being pushed around.

Will this latest "flag" incident trigger a suburban revolution with condo-owners wielding dinner forks?

Probably not.

But the whole affair does call into high relief a classic American trait. Americans are go-along to get-along folks — to a point. When someone starts treading too heavily on their freedom to speak, bear arms, gather together or hang out an American flag, however, they'll counter-punch.

Americans won't be bullied.

It's a lesson the British learned the hard way.

And it's a lesson that censors, heavy-handed cops, pushy politicians and HOAs need keep in mind.