I am writing this blog is for one reason: To show students why civics and economics is important. Hopefully, this real life account of how the government helps citizens, will help students understand that civics and economics is more than social studies facts.
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On Saturday (2/5/12), I had a satellite dish installed at my apartment. The choice was easy, in a Mixed Economy consumers get to choose what products they want; this is called consumer sovereignty.
Unfortunately, my landlord believes we live in a command economy like North Korea; one where people do not get to choose what they will purchase. To my landlord, it was cable or nothing at all.
Please do not envision my landlord as this evil King Kong figure or as a long-bearded Cuban smoking a cigar because that is not the case. My landlord simply sees the satellite dish as a hassle and many rental property owners felt this way too, until Congress wrote the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that the President later signed it.
In this 128 page law, there is a very special part known as “OTARD” (go ahead and laugh). This stands for Over The Air Reception Devices (are you still laughing about OTARD, it’s okay). OTARD states that rental property owners cannot unreasonably restrict a renter (me) from getting a satellite dish. This is great, but what does unreasonably restrict mean?
Before we discuss unreasonable restrictions, we first must understand contracts. When you buy or rent a property some day, you will sign a contract or a lease. This is an agreement between you and the property owner; basically, they allow you to live on the property, if you pay rent and follow all of their rules.
Our government recognizes and upholds these contracts. Fortunately for me, my lease does not say anything about satellite dishes. Also furthering my claim, that the rental company is unreasonably restricting me from getting a satellite, is the fact that three other residents at my apartment have satellite dishes. That’s sounds pretty unreasonable.
On Saturday morning, my dish was up and the DirectTV installer was just about to turn on the HD boxes when the rental company’s henchman ordered the installer to take it down. The Henchman is actually a pretty nice guy, but he is still a henchman. I explained OTARD to him, but he did not listen. The rental property owner refused to talk to me as well. It seemed there was nothing I could do.
So here I am. No satellite dish. No TV on Super Bowl Sunday. A landlord and a henchman that are mad at me. The DirectTV installer worked three hours setting the dish up and didn’t even get paid. Could it get worse? Actually, I talked to a lawyer, and everything is fine because I have the National Government to protect me. We as people give our power to the government, so they can protect our rights; this is called consent of the governed.
On the Next Blog:
I calmly explain the details of the situation to my landlord. If they do not acquiesce, I petition the FCC, a department in the executive branch that helps enforce laws (especially the Telecommunications Act of 1996), and I get my Satellite back.
(Dear DirectTV: this is a non-profit blog, but if you would like to donate money to our school for the free advertisements, please feel free to do so.)
[email protected]
.........
On Saturday (2/5/12), I had a satellite dish installed at my apartment. The choice was easy, in a Mixed Economy consumers get to choose what products they want; this is called consumer sovereignty.
Unfortunately, my landlord believes we live in a command economy like North Korea; one where people do not get to choose what they will purchase. To my landlord, it was cable or nothing at all.
Please do not envision my landlord as this evil King Kong figure or as a long-bearded Cuban smoking a cigar because that is not the case. My landlord simply sees the satellite dish as a hassle and many rental property owners felt this way too, until Congress wrote the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that the President later signed it.
In this 128 page law, there is a very special part known as “OTARD” (go ahead and laugh). This stands for Over The Air Reception Devices (are you still laughing about OTARD, it’s okay). OTARD states that rental property owners cannot unreasonably restrict a renter (me) from getting a satellite dish. This is great, but what does unreasonably restrict mean?
Before we discuss unreasonable restrictions, we first must understand contracts. When you buy or rent a property some day, you will sign a contract or a lease. This is an agreement between you and the property owner; basically, they allow you to live on the property, if you pay rent and follow all of their rules.
Our government recognizes and upholds these contracts. Fortunately for me, my lease does not say anything about satellite dishes. Also furthering my claim, that the rental company is unreasonably restricting me from getting a satellite, is the fact that three other residents at my apartment have satellite dishes. That’s sounds pretty unreasonable.
On Saturday morning, my dish was up and the DirectTV installer was just about to turn on the HD boxes when the rental company’s henchman ordered the installer to take it down. The Henchman is actually a pretty nice guy, but he is still a henchman. I explained OTARD to him, but he did not listen. The rental property owner refused to talk to me as well. It seemed there was nothing I could do.
So here I am. No satellite dish. No TV on Super Bowl Sunday. A landlord and a henchman that are mad at me. The DirectTV installer worked three hours setting the dish up and didn’t even get paid. Could it get worse? Actually, I talked to a lawyer, and everything is fine because I have the National Government to protect me. We as people give our power to the government, so they can protect our rights; this is called consent of the governed.
On the Next Blog:
I calmly explain the details of the situation to my landlord. If they do not acquiesce, I petition the FCC, a department in the executive branch that helps enforce laws (especially the Telecommunications Act of 1996), and I get my Satellite back.
(Dear DirectTV: this is a non-profit blog, but if you would like to donate money to our school for the free advertisements, please feel free to do so.)
[email protected]