Much to my surprise, after viewing a video clip on Salon about a condo association flag controversy, I realized that it wasn’t somewhere else, but right here in Connecticut. Imagine that. The issue itself is pretty straightforward, Condo Associations make up petty rules to enforce some uniformity of blandness, and every once in awhile someone challenges them. An American Flag flying controversy is always good for tv, unless of course a young white woman either dies, goes missing or otherwise displays a knack for smiling in front of cameras.

The Courant reports that there’s a deal now, brokered between State Attorney General Blumenthal and the condo association:

Teresa Richard, who in August pitched an American flag and Blue Star flag hung by mothers of soldiers at war, was warned by the Stoughton Ridge Condominium Association that she was in violation of “common area” rules and would be fined $25 a day after Labor Day.

But on Friday, Richard said, she received a letter from the association offering a compromise.

The offer comes after a frenzy of media coverage and growing political support from state officials, including Attorney General Richard Blumenthal and state Rep. Ted Graziani, D-Ellington. Blumenthal has been working with Kevin Carson, president of the condo association, and Richard to strike a deal.

So it’s come to this, the State AG can jump into the media frenzy over a condo association gone rules-nazi, but a judicial case about a substitute teacher convicted of showing porn to minors by virtue of an unprotected windows 98 PC spawning pop up ads, no that’s not in his jurisdiction. The Julie Amero case, and this Condo Association case are just two of the more galling indications that we as a society have taken leave of common sense.

Somewhere not so long ago, people stopped using common sense as a guideline for behavior, and reverted to creating laws and regulations that were supposed to solve life’s little dilemmas. Instead we’ve just become a nation of sheep, incapable of recognizing lunacy. And there is no greater lunacy on display than the contortions we are subjected to when flying. Somehow our safety is at stake because liquids in greater quantities than 3 ounces are brought on board an airplane. Somehow our property values will plummet if we allow a condo unit to have a red door instead of brown. Somehow our children will be traumatized if they see a naked woman, or man, or both. The reality is that we accept rules that defy common sense because we lack common sense to take on the responsibility of our own behaviors.