Posted on 05/28/2010 10:27:52 PM PDT by Kevin in California
Can someone please tell me the pros (are there any?) and cons (I'm certain there's plenty)of the census?
I didn't send mine in but have had an idiot coming to my house the last couple weeks or so. I finally faced him and told him legally I only had to answer one question and that is how many people live in my household. Am I required to answer anything more than that?
Yes, there is, Article I, Section 2 (emphasis mine):
Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.* The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.* This was modified by Amendment XIV, Section 2:
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
I’ve never understood these people who won’t send their form in. Talk about drawing attention to yourself to the government - which seems to be the opposite of their intentions.
Hmmmm...maybe I’m on to something.
Sent ours in on March 15 or so.
Sorry, crystal ball was foggy, so couldn’t answer any of the questions...
April 1, I could have, but, by then, the form was gone.
No visits yet, but they’ll get two people and an invitation to wander on.
“”With the current regime, it’s a two word answer:
GPS Coordinates.””
Last year a Gov’t worker(pre census he said) showed up at my remote home with a GPS system to take a reading for my home location for gov’t records. He said he wanted to get the coordinates by my front door. He took one look at my German Shepherd barking and throwing a fit right beside the door, and said the coordinates from the car are close enough!
See, that makes no sense to me. I see nothing more intrusive in the choices we make about completing the census (or not) than a census worker showing up at my door and/or calling repeatedly because of an incomplete form. I’d rather fill out the form and be done with it...and be left alone.
I guess people enjoy the attention and feel like they’re “sticking it” to the government by not filling it out. Again, this seems counterintuitive to the bigger picture and their goals.
Hmmmm...again, I think I’m on to something.
So of what use is my name, sex, age, home ownership status, etc. to determining congressional districts?
Sadly, we have never had greater reason to doubt the benefits of it's purpose.
They already have access to the information that they want you to provide. Think about the IRS, data bases, and so forth.
Given that they’ve got all of that, I see no reason to further disrupt my life by giving them the time of day.
The equipment and plans for the collection of GPS coordinates was all developed and purchased during the George W. Bush Administration.
There is no centralized government database of information about you, and the Census has no access to information from the IRS, etc (and likewise, other government agences have no access to information about individuals from the Census; the FBI has actually tried a couple times to get Census data, but they were shot down in court.)
I just love folks who draw a line in the sand about the Census. Let’s see, you have two choices:
1.) Take 2 minutes of your time and answer a few questions on a form. The result being that you become part of an anonymous pile of data, a veritable needle in a haystack.
2.) You refuse and subject yourself to a series of at-home visits by a “government official.” You draw attention to yourself and cause said government official and his/her superior to make notations of you in official documentation. You continue to refuse, possibly resulting in a confrontation and more notations of the incident in a government file somewhere. Finally, you cause the government official to come knocking on your NEIGHBORS door to ask about you.
Now, if you’re really concerned about an overhanded, intrusive U.S. government, which is the SMARTER approach.
Here’s a tip for you to remember NEXT TIME. Fill out the damn form. You don’t have to answer all the questions, just most of them. Do it and it’s done. Why invite the man into your life?
I could understand it if this was an annual event, but it’s not. And by not giving them the time of day, you’re actually doing the opposite. A ringing doorbell that my family (and dog) would have to ignore daily until it stopped is a hassle and a HUGE disruption. Ditto with a ringing phone when it has to be ignored because I’m avoiding someone. But to each his own.
It probably also bears mentioning that Census workers get paid about $10 an hour. Their sole job is to track down folks like the original poster. Thanks to the clowns who refuse to submit their forms, the rest of us have to foot the bill for all these temps running around with their clipboards. I figure the thread author owes the rest of us about $30.
There may be no “centralized” data base, but they already have the information in their memories, and you have to be nuts to thing that they aren’t indexing it.
This isn’t census data, it’s all of the things like house size, from the town permit data, residents, from school lists and voter registration, ect.
They don’t need to ask, as they already know. And with the advances in computing power, I’ve no doubt that most of it is already indexed.
Please note, I used the word restricted, not “locked-up”.
With Barack Obama running the country into the ground for the next 2 1/2 years, answering a census form is the least of your worries.
There was a time on FP when the average Freeper poster would have known this and if they didn't, they would have looked it up themselves before asking such a easliy answered question.
The times have changed
Understood, but nothing in the Constitution gives the government the authority to go beyond pure, simple enumeration, period. Amassing specific information about your subjects is a dangerous thing - for the subjects.
I understand people get worked up about the census...even God was against it.
However, I for one am glad my grandfather answered the questions for the 1910, ‘20 and ‘30 censuses.
And further, the Norwegian census of 1896, showed me that that same grandfather was a 16 year old seaman, that his grandmother had a daughter who was an unwed mother, and a boarder(?) who made beer! Which probably was the reason my grandmother’s righteous family didn’t want her to marry my sea-faring grandfather. All that from a few questions from a census.
From the 1920 census I learned that my grandfather, who was still on the seas in 1918, according to official documents, had bought a house and was employed as an engineer.
And from the 1930 census I learned that my father and his brother were young machinists.
Most of that information was unknown to me or my family, and it came from the answers to just a few questions; household occupants, name, age and occupation.
As I said, do what you want, but I hope my great-grandkids glean a little something from past censuses about me and my family.
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