Active Rain Should NOT Ban Political Posts- Real Estate is Political
Politics has a very strong influence over real estate and business in general. Nearly 50% of most Americans income goes to pay some sort of tax whether it be income tax, FICA, sales tax, telephone tax, unemployment tax, licensing fees, car tags, property tax, etc. And just look at what these new regulations is doing to the mortgage broker industry right now. Major turmoil. If you aren't involved in the political side of things, then probably the only reaosn you are in business now is because of those of us who are fighting tirelessly for your rights.
If You Are A Realtor® You Are In POLITICS!
There is outcry that Active Rain should ban political and religious posts and blogs. There are people who are very polarizing on both sides of this debate.
A Realtor® who does not get involved with the political process does not understand real estate.
The definition of Politics:
If you are a Realtor® - you are a member of NAR. NAR is a special interest group that is heavily involved with definition # 1.
If you are a Realtor®- you are benefiting from the political process that the NAR is involved in ( and sometimes not).
If Active Rain did choose to ban political posts and blogs from its' platform then Active Rain would no longer be a true Real Estate platform. The Google juice that is garnered because of Active Rain has made a difference in political outcomes and to throw that away because some members don't know how to use their mouse to click out of a post they don't want to read is just not a wise decision.
Where would the staff draw the line on what constitutes a political post? There is just too much gray involved.
To prove my point- let's discuss what constitutes 'political' according to the definition in Webster's Dictionary:
1. NAR is a huge advocate to keep banks out of the business of real estate. They lobbied on Capital Hill for keeping banks out and they succeeded. That is a political battle for your livelihood and the well-being of your customers. Any post addressing banks in real estate would NOT be allowed on Active Rain because that is a political post.
2. Your county is going to vote on raising the property taxes in your community. Your board of Realtors® has asked you to support the fight against property taxes being raised. Taxes are political. You write a post to tell your community to get involved with the political process and go to the county meetings- that post would NOT be allowed on Active Rain because it is a political post.
3. FHA guidelines, HUD directives and lending regulation- All political subjects. No posts venting about FHA or HUD would be allowed.
4. Short Sales and HAFA regulations- If you state an opinion or are in favor of regulating banks or not- to post about this is political. Therefore you would no longer be able to write posts about certain aspects of short sales.
5. The Housing Market Boom and Bust is also a political arena. If you venture into writing posts about the housing market rise and fall- those could not be allowed either.
6. Eminent Domain Issues- That is a biggie and guess what- Eminent Domain is VERY political. Too bad we would not be able to help homeowners learn about Eminent Domain issues. Those posts would no longer be allowed.
Let's just say that there is a developer in your town that wants to use eminent domain to take down a section of town to build a hotel or a condominium. He or she is friends with the state representative for this area and you find out about it. You would want to let the people in the neighborhood know that this is taking place- yet- your hands would be tied on Active Rain- that would be a political post.
7. The Financial Crisis- Well, we know we can't go there!
8. Cap and Trade as it effects the sale of new and resale homes. NAR has been lobbying for changes to lift the burden off of homeowners in regards to being required to spend money they don't have in order to just sell their home - this is a political debate that needs to happen. But of course, if political posts were banned from AR- you would never get to have that debate.
9. Property Rights! Huge Real Estate issue. If you don't care about property rights you should not even be selling real estate. Property rights- a political discussion.
10. You as a small business owner have concerns and issues that are being discussed on Capital Hill and that right there turns those concerns into political discussions.
You can take almost any Real Estate subject and discover that it is part of the political discussion going on today. It would be nearly impossible to regulate fairly what constitutes a political post or what does not, then have the word police assigned to seek and ban posts which would result in a loss of membership.
Copyright © 2010 By Katerina Gasset, All Rights Reserved.*Active Rain Should NOT Ban Political Posts- Real Estate is Politcal!*
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