I just joined a committee for my HOA and we met for the first time last night...it's kinda scary how a bunch of people get together in a room, and given a little bit of power to collect money, make rules, etc. no matter what their ideological principles might have been before stepping into that room, once they were in there it was all "how do I get my little pet peeve added to the list of things that are not allowed" and "let's ask for just a little more money to cover it, it's just a few more bucks per year, people can afford it". The whole "we could live without it" mentality is completely absent.
So that's government at the smallest scale, I wonder if it's the same dynamic at larger scales.
I just hope the lumber market stabilizes soon and that this isn't some new paradigm shift ushering in a new normal.