[ropeladder]

The HOA comparison doesn't make much sense here. Unions give people a democratic way to exercise power against an existing powerful organization (corporations), in what would otherwise be an authoritarian workplace. HOAs are a way to exercise power as a group against individuals in the group. It's true that democratic institutions can be frustrating, but this (obvious) fact is not the clever gotcha you seem to think of is.

[wreath]

This is solving a problem with the wrong tool. I shouldn't need another layer of bureaucracy in order to exercise my power as a citizen/employee against a powerful organization. The same way i don't need a priest to hook me up w/ the guy in the sky.

[aesh2Xa1]

Yes, it seems a far more apt comparison to union dues would be government taxation.

[dixie_land]

> HOAs are a way to exercise power as a group against individuals in the group.

s/HOA/Union/ and this statement is still true