standing

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I used to rent a broken down old house in Seadrift. It's a gated community that sometimes has to put everything aside for the limo parade that is a Dianne Feinstein party, but mostly it is fairly peaceful. It was a lucky break for me because I was suddenly in dire need of a roof and without much in the way of funds. My friend's mom had gone to a rest home but continued to believe she'd be coming back. So he couldn't sell the place and he didn't want to put the money into it to rent it out for real money. All was pretty darn peaceful there until Mr. and Mrs. Pinhead, the people who'd bought the lot next door, built their house.

Mr. Pinhead had inherited quite a huge amount of money. His job was overseeing the people in charge of increasing it and... well... that's all he did. He was about thirty-two. He'd found himself a nice dim catalog model and they were on the point of having their second child. Their mansion on Belvedere Island was too dull for weekend entertaining and they wanted this second house to get away from the grind. I can't tell you how grateful I was that it was only for weekends, but... have you any idea how quickly weekends come when you are dreading them? Amazing.

Their splendiferously chic beach cabin cut off my breathtaking view of Mt. Tamalpias from my kitchen window. They put in a hot tub for their bathtub that rang the septic alarm every single time they took a bath in the monster, and they never came out to turn it off. The thing would keep ringing for an hour unless you went out to the alarm box by the septic tank and manually shut it off. Their alarm was as loud in my house as a smoke alarm in the same room with me, and the first thing I do when I go anywhere is take the batteries out of the smoke alarms on the off chance they might so much as chirp, because blood starts dripping out my eyes when they do. I always ended up having to get up and get dressed and go out and turn that fucker off late at night. Sometimes in the driving rain. The Pinheads always acted innocent when I mentioned it, insisted they couldn't hear the thing going off, and never showed any evidence that putting me through this regularly was any kind of an imposition. Never mind that it was a lot closer to them than to me. Never mind that the reason that alarm was there was to warn them that they were breaking the law. Never mind that I was so close to being bin material that a dog barking in the distance sent me through the roof. Never mind all that. They wanted luxurious bathing experiences and they got them.

The lot had come with the coveted old telephone poles laid near the street to keep the sand in the yard. The Pinheads had decided one of them was a foot too long and had their builder saw off that foot... but not haul it away. It ended up marring the austerity of their landscaping [sandscaping?] and every weekend I would find the thing rolled over into my yard. Every weekend I rolled it back. Inevitably came the weekend where the rollers met face to face, and this roller read that roller up one side and down the other. That roller, Mr. Pinhead, took umbrage at my unwillingness to act as his garbage dump. "Oh, yeah? Well we'll just see. I own my place and you don't own yours. Let me talk to the owner, and we'll just see."

"Why you snotty little prig! You think because I rent this place that I'm some stupid little prole who is glad to turn off your septic alarm for you while you bask in afterglow? That I should haul your shit to the dump? I have EXACTLY as many rights as you, and if you think dealing with me is hard, just wait until I put you in touch with the owner."

I guess he went back inside and sat down and thought about his rights in relation to mine, because the next day he came over with a chocolate Easter bunny as a peace offering, told me he guessed he hadn't been a very good neighbor. Said he'd try to do better. [He didn't.] But I honestly think that was the first time anyone made him sit down and assess the actual differences in the rights of owners and renters. There are none.

It's only people with less deferring to people with more that makes them think so to begin with. Pretty soon it ends up turning into customary, which ends up being how things are run. If you're not careful the Pinheads will start rewriting the laws so the proles can't get snippy about this sort of thing.

People are already trying to tell you that you have no say in how the local government spends its money because you don't pay property taxes. No, no. If you are a citizen and a resident they are accountable to you. Your rent money is paying the property taxes on your home. A government in the United States isn't allowed to govern anyone who isn't equal to everyone else. A government in the United States can't govern without the consent of the governed. Do you get called for jury duty? Are you eligible to run for office? You have standing.

If they try to tell you otherwise, appeal it clear up to the Supreme Court. Make them overtly turn America legally fascist before you give up.