“And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”
-The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

A homeowners association is a group of stuck-up people living in a community who make all the decisions as far as what you can and can not do on, and to, your property. For instance many gated communities have rules that say you can not park your RV in front of your house because it is considered to be an eye sore. They also have rules that say you don’t have a right to paint your house pink because it’s not an approved “neutral color.” These committees violate the unalienable rights to property of the people living in the respective communities. Fortunately, most of the time their rules and regulations prohibit things most people wouldn’t do, or have no desire to do anyway, which means they don’t usually step on any toes. But recently an Arizona man by the name of Andy McDonel has been in the news after he received a letter from his homeowners’ association that read:

“please remove debris from the front/side of your home”

. Upon further investigation McDonel learned that the “debris” that his homeowners association was referring to was his 3′x5′ Gadsden flag that he had been flying from the front of his house since January of this year.

The Gadsden flag, more commonly known as the “Don’t tread on me” flag, was a flag named after its designer Christopher Gadsden who was an American general in the time period of the American War for Independence. The flag features a yellow field with a coiled rattlesnake in the striking position and the bold text below reading, “DON’T TREAD ON ME” as a warning to British troops to back off. This historical flag was then used by the United States Marine Corps as an early motto flag and has now been frequently associated with the current tea party movement, which is why McDonel believes his homeowners association wants the flag removed from his property. McDonel said:

“I think they are associating it with the political movement going around, but the history and the significance of this flag far supersedes any political movement that’s going on.”

Avalon Village Community Association, which is his homeowners association, is claiming the flag does not fit their criteria for permitted flags, even though their flag requirements says that people living in the development can fly “the Stars and Stripes, the state flag, flags representing Indian nations as well as the official flags of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard” as long as it is no larger than a 3′x5′. Which raises the question, why is this 3′ x 5′ early United States Marine Corps flag not acceptable?

McDonel has said that he is not flying this flag for any political purposes but rather “to honor the founding fathers and their percerverences they went through… they sacrificed their honor, their lives and their fortunes to establish this great nation.” Isn’t flying this flag, the very least that he can do?