Trailer Park Heroes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Columnist Al Mascitti of The News Journal describes a group of Americans who are currently getting screwed because they lack the power, property or legal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/23\/trailer-park-heroes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trailer Park Heroes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Columnist Al Mascitti of The News Journal describes a group of Americans who are currently getting screwed because they lack the power, property or legal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/23\/trailer-park-heroes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"slacktivist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2004-11-23T04:59:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fred Clark\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/23\/trailer-park-heroes\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/23\/trailer-park-heroes\/\",\"name\":\"Trailer Park Heroes\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2004-11-23T04:59:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2004-11-23T04:59:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e\"},\"description\":\"Columnist Al Mascitti of The News Journal describes a group of Americans who are currently getting screwed because they lack the power, property or legal\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/23\/trailer-park-heroes\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/23\/trailer-park-heroes\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/23\/trailer-park-heroes\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Trailer Park Heroes\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/\",\"name\":\"slacktivist\",\"description\":\""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e\",\"name\":\"Fred Clark\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Fred Clark\"},\"description\":\"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. You can reach him via email at slacktivist at hotmail dot com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/author\/fredclark\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Trailer Park Heroes","description":"Columnist Al Mascitti of The News Journal describes a group of Americans who are currently getting screwed because they lack the power, property or legal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/23\/trailer-park-heroes\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Trailer Park Heroes","og_description":"Columnist Al Mascitti of The News Journal describes a group of Americans who are currently getting screwed because they lack the power, property or legal","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/23\/trailer-park-heroes\/","og_site_name":"slacktivist","article_published_time":"2004-11-23T04:59:43+00:00","author":"Fred Clark","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fred Clark","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/23\/trailer-park-heroes\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/23\/trailer-park-heroes\/","name":"Trailer Park Heroes","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website"},"datePublished":"2004-11-23T04:59:43+00:00","dateModified":"2004-11-23T04:59:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e"},"description":"Columnist Al Mascitti of The News Journal describes a group of Americans who are currently getting screwed because they lack the power, property or legal","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/23\/trailer-park-heroes\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/23\/trailer-park-heroes\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/23\/trailer-park-heroes\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Trailer Park Heroes"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/","name":"slacktivist","description":""Test everything; hold fast to what is good."","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/0173c85e46e7e0951fef5752bed78b6e","name":"Fred Clark","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/e23731809f5a2c785d0416fc4211a51e?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Fred Clark"},"description":"Fred Clark is a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary (now called Palmer Seminary), of Eastern College (now called Eastern University) and of the fundamentalist Timothy Christian High School (still fundamentalist and still called Timothy Christian High School, but not really thrilled to have a snarky, liberal, tree-hugging, pro-choice, pro-GLBT, peacenik, commie, evolutionist as such a vocal alumnus). A former managing editor of Prism magazine, Fred worked in the parachurch nonprofit world for a decade and then for a decade in the newspaper biz. He began blogging in 2002. In 2003 he began writing a review of the best-selling Left Behind series. Eight years later he still hasn\u2019t finished reviewing the second book of that series and the experience has left him a broken shell of a man. Fred knows the difference between the possessive \u201cits\u201d and the contraction \u201cit\u2019s,\u201d and he is acutely bothered when others mistakenly confuse the two, yet he himself just kind of instinctively types the apostrophe whether or not it belongs there. Some feel this is his greatest hypocrisy, but those who know him better know better. He\u2019s guilty of much greater hypocrisies. Jesus loves Fred far more than Fred loves Jesus, but he at least has the decency to recognize the unfairness of that lopsided relationship and he has long wished that he were better at maybe kind of sort of doing something more to correct that some day. A Baptist, an amateur, a Gen-Xer, a Gemini and a Mets fan, Fred lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania with his wife and two teenage daughters. 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{"id":967,"date":"2004-11-23T04:59:43","date_gmt":"2004-11-23T04:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/23\/trailer-park-heroes\/"},"modified":"2004-11-23T04:59:43","modified_gmt":"2004-11-23T04:59:43","slug":"trailer-park-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/slacktivist\/2004\/11\/23\/trailer-park-heroes\/","title":{"rendered":"Trailer Park Heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Columnist Al Mascitti<\/a> of The [Del.] News Journal<\/i> describes a group of Americans who are currently getting screwed because they lack the power, property or legal protection to defend themselves.<\/p>\n

Equity Lifestyle Properties, formerly known as Manufactured Home Communities, owns six such parks with more than 2,200 lots in Sussex County. Last spring it socked many of its tenants with astronomical rent increases, despite leases with clauses that seemingly prevented them.<\/i><\/p>\n

I live in an apartment. Ninety days before my current lease expires, I will get a letter from my landlord informing me of any increase in the rent should I choose to renew the lease. If the increase is reasonable (last year it went up $28), I will probably stay. But if the landlord decided to increase my rent by 30 percent or more \u2014 $200 to $300 a month \u2014 then I'd be outta here. Sure, moving is inconvenient, and changing your address\/phone\/ISP is a pain. But I'm still more or less free to just say no and move somewhere else. That freedom means I can't be extorted into paying exorbitant rent.<\/p>\n

The tenants of ELP's properties do not have such freedom.<\/p>\n

The term \"mobile home\" \u2014 like the term \"trailer\" \u2014 is misleading. These manufactured homes are not easy, or cheap, to relocate. For many tenants, the cost of moving their home would exceed its value.<\/p>\n

So unless Delaware lawmakers intervene with some kind of legal protection for these people, they're screwed. They will lose their homes and the thousands of dollars of equity they have put into them.<\/p>\n

This is a job for Democrats.<\/p>\n

Forget all the red-state\/blue-state nonsense. Forget all the hardspun stereotypes about northeastern elites and their condescending attitude toward the common folk of the rural heartland. None of that is relevant.<\/p>\n

What matters is that the rich, propertied and powerful are once again turning the screws on the poor and the powerless. We've only got two political parties in this country. One of them gives a damn about the poor and the powerless and the other does not. That's the difference \u2014 and yes, it's an explicitly moral<\/i> difference \u2014 and that's all that matters here.<\/p>\n

Strategically, it might be shrewd for Democrats to take this issue and run with it. Becoming vocal, effective champions on behalf of mobile home tenants would help to counter a lot of the Brooksian babble about cultural elitism. It would also make Republicans play defense on their own turf \u2014 in the heart of the heartland and the reddest counties of the red states.<\/p>\n

But you know what? None of those strategic considerations matter either.<\/p>\n

Poor people are literally getting fleeced out of house and home. If Democrats can't stand up for them \u2014 if they can't protect them and give them the power to fight back \u2014 then what good does it do to be a Democrat anyway?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"