[jstarfish]

I hate working as much as anyone else but the problem is disruption of routine. People don't handle infinite freedom very well either.

Thus, HOAs are dominated by retirees. It gives them a new routine (with a side order of authority), through which they promptly impose their outdated ideas on everyone else.

The flip side of this are the hedonists who buy an RV and tour every swinger venue across America. Even this "freedom" establishes a routine-- usually involving driving, partying, finding an urgent care clinic for more Doxycyclene, and repeating until death/disability.

My grandmother was neither an HOA Nazi nor a swinger. She watched TV until she got Alzheimer's and spent her final decade dismantling every bathroom fixture she encountered. Even in extreme mental illness, we seek routine.