Former U.S. Congressman Bob Barr wrote in his recent column in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that parents should boycott Census in Schools Week because Barr claims that the federal government is brainwashing children as child labor to collect data. This is absolutely ridiculous!
I truly don't understand why so many people, including former Congressmen, think that the decennial census is an invasion of privacy. Why shouldn't our government have information on its population for planning and funding purposes? Why do people not trust the Census Bureau to collect information, which is kept completely private for 70 years? It is out civic responsibility to respond to the 2010 Census. Individuals and families who refuse to complete the census form are doing a tremendous disservice to their community, city, state, and country.
Share your thoughts below or answer my question, Will You Fill Out the Census 2010 Form?
Comments
It seems as if having some sort of grasp on reality should be a requirement for public office, but perhaps I’m naive.
Do most Libertarians think the Census should be abolished?
I have experienced examles of why some people are reluctant to answer census workers’ questions. In one istance my census taker was the biggest gossip in town, and it was a safe bet that she had to tell anything interesting she learned as soon as she could manage to get to the nearest phone.
Another taker couldn’t catch a neighbor of mine at home and tried to get me to answer questions for that household. When she asked questions about this houshold I saiid I didn’t know – and she criticized me for not being more attentive to my neighbors!
As to accuracy, there are certainly millions who give false information – even to how many people live at an address, the very essece of a census. Those jobbing the system have good reason to lie.
The results reported are adjusted by estimating how many people likely gave false information.
I think it was only a few days ago when I read the Census Bureau suspended ACORN from furnishing census takers. I can understand some in bad neighborhoods reluctant to let a stranger into their house notwithstanding a badge.
Me? I’ve never had anything to hide but I’ve struggled with some of the questions that didn’t permit a true answer because of the way they were phrased.
In my early 50′s I have yet to be approached by a census taker. Don mentions adjustments for false information. What about the lack of information, such as he mentioned a neighbor not home? Sounds like major problems with census taking, so why not graduate to some hi-tech, hopefully more accurate method?
I play around on Ancestry type websites searching my family history. You would be surprised on what info differences are shown in different years on the same person. Names spelled wrong, birthdates incorrect, etc.. Its my understanding that, unfortunately, they don’t employ the smartest people to be the enumerators (is that the correct term for people that are the ones that go house to house and ask the questions and record the info.?. Great, maybe we can hire un documented people to take the jobs that Americans don’t want..
I’m curious how not getting the correct info will penalize programs at the Federal level in the next decade. School funding, health care, whatever you feel is important. Is it a violation of federal law to not cooperate with federal census takers or give them false information?
Mike
Is Bob Barr speaking of the decennial census or a “school census”? Every year my local school system has a “Count Week” where they encourage 100% attendance for a week. I am under the impression the information is collected to get an accurate number of students a school system has to base future school funding from the federal and state governments. I am not sure how this is “brain washing of our children” but they are our future labor force.
In regards to the accuracy of the Census and the work and intelligence of the enumerator one must realize the govermnent first sends out the questionairs to all households for a response, some get the short form others receive the long form. After a given period of time, the Census Bureau hires the enumerators to go door to door collecting information. All responses are those collected from the participant household not the enumerator or at least in theory. I worked the last census as an enumerator, I am an American, I am a college graduate (geography major), and I am looking forward to the upcoming census. Take pride in your country!!!
There is a small fine for not answering the questions ($100) and a larger one for lying ($500) so I guess it’s a law to be enforced and we do claim to be a country of rules and law so I guess we should fill out the census. That said, I think any government activity will have those that think it could be a conspiracy. Lets just fill the damn thing out and try to find out how many neighbors we really have. It costs money to chase people to get answers.
People oppose the Census because the data is used so often for political means. If we are to become a color blind society, then why does the Census ask for race? Why is ACORN involved in Census surveys when it is an organization with an obvious political agenda/bias? People/politicians constantly put down minimum wage workers at Wal-mart or Subway, yet Census takers are the same minimum wage workers. Are we to expect that somehow a minimum wage government employee will execute his job better/more accurately than a private sector employee?
The concentration of information and power in the hands of the government is always detrimental to a democracy. This is what our country is realizing with our current government and it is part of why people oppose the Census.
Matt, You fail to understand. It’s not the census we don’t trust- it’s the government. I’m ready to fight bigger, and bigger, and bigger government….
it’s all about FREEDOM
It is not true that census takers are “minimum wage workers”, Steve. I was a census taker working in quality control. Most of the workers in our area were college graduates and we made much better than minimum wage. We were also well trained. The new system using hand held computers with GPS will make the census much more accurate this time around.
Census takers are seasonal part-time workers and as such can not be expected to put their best efforts in to their work. They remind me of those people that are paid to hand out advertising flyers and who toss most in dumpsters. I question how correct is the information they gather.
Besides, who in the HelI trusts the government to not misuse the data?
It ridiculous. Why does the Census need to know how much money I make, whether i have insurance, whether my child is biological or adopted, how much our mortgage is each month…. and how many toilets we have in our home. Constitutionally, we’re only required to provide a “head-count” and how many people are 20 or older. It’s intrusive and an invasion of my privacy… and more importantly a waste of time and money. Arquably — it’s nothing more than a massive data collection effort to codify intelligence data on the American populace!
You are incredibly naive.
The purpose of the census constitutionally is to make sure that we have proper representation. I know that some of the questions have nothing to do with that. I feel that there is an attempt to gain information about us that they have no right to.
I feel this is a absolute intrusion to my 4th 5th and right to privacy. All the government is entitled to is a head count that it. Why do they need a GPS location and why isnt the question illegal alien YES or NO on there.
None of your business is the answer, Jess
Matt,
Steve’s #7, Maurice Bourne # 8 and Sal Falletta #11 stated the reasons very well! It’s all about freedom!
The “money” “the government” “distributes” is our money! For them to provide “services” to our community, they only need a head count, not details about our lives! It is an invasion of privacy! They have crossed the line of our 5th Amendmend rights!
550 “Representives” in Washington DC rule our nation and ignore the people! They cut deals behind closed doors, write “brother-in-law” legislation for special interest groups, etc., all done to secure their POWER base!
They are a batch of rotten eggs that need to be thrown out! What we need is a new party that is dedicated to honest principles and are true representives of the people. Not to a party or special interest groups! We need term limits.
The census infringes on our individual freedom, and if we as Americans do not soon “draw a line in the sand” and stop the madness in Washington DC, then we will become indentured sevants fearful to speak out and fearful of “Big Brother!”
Lend an ear my friends! America is on the precipice of National Socialism and indentured servitude. November 2010 may be our last chance to save our way of life.
Paranoia will destroy ya. Nowehere in the constitution does it state it’s strictly a head count. If you are a minority who didn’t have proper representation, you’d be the first to complain. If you are a female who didn’t have proper representation, you’d also be first in line to complain. Did anyone know you were here to be entitled to representation? Not if you didn’t fill out the census questionnaire. The enumerators who go door to door are tested and subjected to background and criminal checks. They are also sworn to protect your privacy much like a doctor and a lawyer is sworn to protect your privacy. If you have a busy body enumerator who likes to gossip, tell him/her you’d rather give your information to someone else or even better yet next time fill out your questionnaire yourself. Everyone’s so worried about personal information being spread – how many of you shop on-line with credit cards and how many of you send your IRS forms with your SSN and bank routing information through the mail or on-line?? That is personal information the Census doesn’t ask for but you’re very willing to send it out there anyway. How many of you have Facebook accounts with your full name, DOB and hometown?? If it’s not so private for you to put it out there on Facebook for your friends to find you, then why is it so private you don’t want the government to have it? If you don’t want to fill out the form, then let the funding or representation that would come your way go to a community who deserves it. And if you’re so paranoid about our government, go live somewhere else if you think you can do better. I put my hand over my heart when the National Anthem plays. I get the goose bumps EVERY time. I LOVE THIS COUNTRY and if they want my age, my race and my income to make sure my communinity gets more than your community – then that’s what I’m going to do.
A lot of you people are forgetting one important thing, information is power. Your just giving out your information like it’s nothing and giving the government more power over us. Also when the census is forced upon you and you “have” to fill it out otherwise you are fined, does that not truly worry you. Where’s your so called freedom now?
Dude are you serious when you ask- Why do people not trust the Census Bureau to collect information, which is kept completely private for 70 years?
How can someone as ignorant as yourself be allowed to publish this garbage? Did you know the Japanese Anericans stripped of their rights, rounded up and imprisoned soley because of their ethnicity was executed by the release of information from the Census Bureau to the Secret Service. Why dont we trust our government? Because they denied this from 1942 until 2007 when it was finally proven. You’re an idiot and shouldnt be allowed to publish this crap on about.com
You are so naive.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=confirmed-the-us-census-b