Why I have been off the air since Thursday.
I just got back from Montreal after a truly excellent conference titled "Private Neighborhood Associations and Liberty." It was sponsored by The Liberty Fund, an organization that puts on many conferences dealing with liberty. This one was proposed and put together by Robert Nelson, the University of Maryland economist who has written a great deal about the use of HOAs as a replacement for municipal governments. There were 15 people at the conference, and a very distinguised group it was (not counting me), including law professors, economists, and a few from other backgrounds, such as Linc Cummings, one of the founders of CAI. Some of the attendees are libertarians or so inclined, but others were coming from quite different perspectives. We had two full days of lengthy and intense conversations. All told, it was the best meeting I have ever attended on this subject. I will talk more about this, but for now I have to get some rest as it has been a long four days.