Imagine the resulting destruction if a classroom full of kindergartners had been given boxes of matches and told to play with fire.  No safety instructions, no oversight, no plans to prevent the inevitable mayhem and chaos, just the blanket permission for children to play with fire.  Now I know what you are thinking, no sane and rational person would ever do anything that reckless and stupid.   OK, so maybe we don’t actually give a room full of 5 year old boxes of matches but can you see much of a difference between that scenario and what is happening in condo and homeowner associations across the country?  How about state legislatures?

Frank Short joins us On The Commons.  Frank, a long time friend, a government attorney and a popular guest on the show  follows proposed legislation and explains how these laws, if enacted, would  work in real life.  We focus on just one of those bad bills today and talk about a towing bill that was introduced in the Virginia House of Delegates earlier this year.  Unfortunately this bill survived and went on to become the law while its companion bill in the Virginia Senate failed. Keep that picture of 5 year olds with their boxes of matches in mind as you consider the ramifications of how this new law will affect consumers, voters, taxpayers and anyone else caught in the web that has been spun by legislators.  Maybe it is time to recognize that our elected officials can’t be trusted any more than any other predator when it comes to protecting their constituents.  Is it time to take away the matchboxes from the “little ones” and start providing some desperately needed adult supervision?

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