Some of my readers think that I don’t believe the Federal Government should do anything. Especially if they read “What Are You Willing to Give Up?” So they might presume I don’t believe in the census. But I do. You see, as I have stated repeatedly in these articles, I believe in the Constitution. The Constitution is not perfect but it is still a great document. It is a contract between the government and the states. That sort of makes it a contract between the government and you. And me.
The census was authorized by the Constitution in Article I, Section 2. It was placed there for the purpose of knowing how many citizens the country had. More specifically, how many citizens each state had. There were two reasons to know this information.
Stand up and be counted.
The first reason is the House of Representatives.
“The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative . . . “
So by counting the population of each state, it could be determined how many representatives the state should have. The idea was to divide the population of each state by 30,000 and the whole number answer would be the number of representatives that state would get. If the state had less than 30,000 population, it would get one representative.
Not more than one representative for every 30,000 was in the Constitution and has never been changed, not constitutionally. In 1911 congress decided the house was getting too big. I won’t go into WHY they decided this because I don’t know why for sure. The way I read the Constitution I believe that this relationship of not more than one representative for every 30,000 was something not to be changed. To change it should require an amendment. That was not done. I must admit, however, that the congress of 1911 may have been technically OK in the legislature that froze the house size at 435 members. After all, if there is one for every 600,000 citizens, that is not more than one for every 30,000.
The second reason for the census is taxation. The Constitution allows two methods of taxation. The first is excise taxes as spelled out in Article I, Section 8.
“The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States; . . . “
The founders realized that there would be times when the above taxes would not pay all the bills of the Federal government. So they agreed to allow direct taxes to “ . . . be apportioned among the several States.” These are the only direct taxes allowed. The Federal government was to bill the separate states in ratio to their population. Each state was to determine how to collect from its own citizens.
James Madison, known as the Father of the Constitution, wrote in the Federalist Papers (#54):
“In one respect, the establishment of a common measure for representation and taxation will have a very salutary effect. As the accuracy of the census to be obtained by the Congress will necessarily depend, in a considerable degree, on the disposition, if not on the co-operation of the States, it is of great importance that the States should feel as little bias as possible to swell or to reduce the amount of their numbers. Were their share of representation alone to be governed by this rule, they would have an interest in exaggerating their inhabitants. Were the rule to decide their share of taxation alone, a contrary temptation would prevail. By extending the rule to both objects, the States will have opposite interests which will control and balance each other and produce the requisite impartiality.”
As you can see, the founders wanted the census to be accurate. By using it as a method for collecting some of the taxes, as well as determining the number of representatives for each state, the states had an incentive to be as accurate as possible.
Don’t think I’ve forgotten about the 16th amendment allowing for the new tax called an Income Tax. It was new in 1913 when the amendment was allegedly ratified. I say allegedly because Bill Benson went from state to state (all 48 that were states in 1913) and found errors, irregularities, and other problems with virtually all of the 38 states that were said to have approved the amendment. This is documented in The Law That Never Was. It is clear from his research that the 16th amendment is not the law of the land.
So that brings us back to the two taxing methods, one of which requires the enumeration of the population of the states. The only information needed – for either taxing purposes or determining the number of representatives from each state – is a head count.
Some of you may have heard of a long census form. First of all, it seems the Republican party sent out a form that mimicked the long census form. I believe it was a combination questionnaire and fund raiser. The questionnaire was designed to help them figure out what promises to make to the American people to help the GOP wrestle back the reins of government from the Democrats. The fund raiser had the same final goal. I received one – the GOP did not receive it back.
Secondly, the American Community Survey is a multi-page census form put out by the Census Bureau. It has a lot more questions and is much more intrusive than the general form being sent out this year. This form is sent or delivered to a limited number of households each year including the years between the Constitutional decennial censuses.
Is it Constitutional?
Just how constitutional is the census, especially the additional questions (beyond a head count)? Some say it violates the 4th amendment. Some say it violates the 13th amendment.
The argument for the 4th amendment is that answering the questions intrudes on a person’s privacy. The courts have said it does not intrude on a person’s privacy.
“…[I]t is clear that the degree to which these questions intrude upon an individual’s privacy is limited, given the methods used to collect the census data and the statutory assurance that the answers and attribution to an individual will remain confidential . . . “
Well, if the government says the answers will remain confidential, how can we doubt it? If you didn’t catch the sarcasm in that last sentence, trust me, it is there. The above quote came from an article titled “Census in the Constitution.” There they will try to convince you that all is well with the legality of the census. This quote comes from the same article:
“It is constitutional to include questions in the decennial census beyond those concerning a simple count of the number of people. On numerous occasions, the courts have said the Constitution gives Congress the authority to collect statistics in the census.”
The decennial census. What about all those “in between” census forms that are so much more intrusive than the primary form for this year?
The other Constitutional question involves the 13th amendment. Filling out the form takes time that a person could use doing other things. If you are made to do something for someone without being paid an agreed upon rate, you are a slave. That is involuntary servitude. The 13th amendment prohibits that.
Am I nitpicking? Do I really think the government should pay me for the 5 minutes it will take to fill out the short census form? If its OK for them to require me to fill out a 5 minute form, what about a 15 minute form? That’s OK? Than how about a 1 hour form? It is a matter of degrees – where do you draw the line? This would all be far less a concern to most Americans if the only question on the form was “How many people live in this household?”
Why do they ask?
So why do they ask all the other questions?
- For the Federal government to properly allocate funds to the needed areas to help plan schools, multicultural programs, highways, training programs, and all of the other things that the Federal government has no Constitutional authority to do or be involved in.
- For the towns and communities so the Federal government can return the right amount of our money to do all of those things mentioned in the above paragraph.
- For businesses so they can have the kind of data needed for market research.
Let’s go go through that list backwards.
- Let the businesses get their own data. Don’t make me pay for it.
- Let the towns and communities determine what programs they want and how many schools they need. They don’t need census figures to determine these things. If the schools are starting to get crowded they may need expansion. If traffic gets heavy on certain roads they may have to be widened. Not rocket science.
- As far as the Federal government is concerned, they could save us a lot of money by getting out of the way. Let us keep our money local. Let the states and cities tax us for the needs of the states and cities.
When we send the money to the feds first, they siphon off some to run their bureaucracies then send back how ever much they decide to. It is not only the census that determines the amount a given state or city will receive. It also depends on how well the state or city has agreed to follow rules the Federal government has unconstitutionally laid down. For instance in the 1970’s, some highway funds were tied to a federally mandated 55 mph speed limit. And now they are tied to seat belt laws. Even so, often the state or city will have to apply for a grant to get the money. That is more bureaucracy at both the grant request level and the granter level.
Remember, this was OUR money to start with. Very few states or cities will get as much back from the Federal government as the citizens of that state or city sent to Uncle Sam. Those who do are taking from others who are getting less back. The only way the government can send back as much to each state or city as they received from them is for them to print additional money. This devalues the money we have and that is inflation. Inflation is a hidden tax. The ONLY source of inflation is the creation of more money.
How should it be done?
In my opinion there are three ways to do the census. The Census Bureau can mail out a simple form to each household in the country and request it be returned by a certain date. They could make extra copies available at each post office. This would be the cheapest way to do the job. It would probably miss a small number of households, especially those in new subdivisions.
Alternatively they could ship the forms in bulk to each state to be passed on down. The states could ship them to each county and each county could distribute them to each township. The township officials would know pretty much where new households exist that weren’t there a decade ago. This method would be more complete and give a more accurate census. It would also cost more.
The third way would be to have temporary township employees do the census going house to house. They could use forms that handle many households at a time. After all, only one line would be needed for each address if only the head count was being done. Most likely it would work best by doing the count in the evening when more homes would be occupied. Often, if nobody was home at a given house, the neighbor would be able to tell the number of occupants of that house. This should be the most accurate, but probably also the most costly method.
Speaking of the cost. According to The Independent Institute the Census Bureau has an advertising campaign costing $350 million. That included $2.5 million spent on the Super Bowl. I would think a few press releases would be all that is necessary. I don’t know if this came from the ad budget but they mailed an announcement to each household in the country telling them that they would be receiving the form in the mail soon. I’m sure you got yours. More of your money wasted. That announcement was written in English, but a line telling where to find info on how to fill out the form was printed in a total of six languages on the bottom. The tree-huggers should be complaining about the extra ink used which will end up in the land fills and the water supply. And why was that info necessary if the form is so easy?
The states and cities are also doing their share of advertising. I don’t have any specific figures, and I’m sure they vary greatly across the nation, but here in Lafayette, Indiana, I have seen TV ads featuring the mayors of Lafayette and West Lafayette, together, reminding you to be sure to be counted. Of course this is so these cities can get our fair share of our money back. At least they went together and reduced the costs instead of doing separate ads for each city. And the state has been advertising, also. More tax money spent.
2010 Census.
Now let’s talk about this years form. I received one for our household on March 16, 2010.
The cover letter, dated March 15, 2010, gave the instruction to “Please complete and mail back the enclosed census form today.” I put that in bold because that is the way it is on the letter. On the back there is information on how confidential your answers will be. This is a promise by the government, so we know what it’s worth. I’ve read, several times, that probably this information is more secure than any other in government with the exception of the Department of Defense. Do you remember this headline “Laptop with personal data about thousands stolen from Army employee”? How about this one: “Stolen military data for sale in Afghanistan”? Somehow I don’t have a lot of confidence in the government protecting my data.
“Use a blue or black pen.” Don’t tell, but I used a green one. It had black ink but the ink color wasn’t mentioned. I wish I had a black pen with green ink. I’d have used it and kept it for evidence in case I was prosecuted for not following the instructions.
Next it says: The Census must count every person living in the United States on April 1, 2010. One thing I am not clear on. Does the Constitutional census require counting every person living in the United States or every citizen of the United States?
Remember the cover letter said to “Please complete and mail back the enclosed census form today.” That would be the day received which for me was March 16. But the questions all refer to the information as it is, will be, or was on April 1. What if my wife and I separate after I mail it back but before April? (Not going to happen in this household – but what if?) What if we take in a lodger in that same time period? Make up my mind, government. Wait, I don’t really mean that!
Next comes detailed instructions on how to count the people in your home. Very detailed. Then question number 1 “How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1, 2010.” “How many people WERE living or staying . . .” Now it looks like they expect (want?) you to fill this out AFTER April 1. What if you have an out of state visitor staying with you on April 1? Not living with you but staying for a day or two. They should be counted at their home. But you would also count them because they are staying with you. What if the visitor lives in another country? Do you count these visitors?
Question 1 is the only legitimate question on the form, by the way.
The extra questions.
Question 2: “Were there any additional people staying here April 1, 2010 that you did not include in Question 1?” (Underscoring in the original.) Question 1 already asked about everyone staying in the house.
I’ll summarize the next 4 questions.
Question 3 asks if the residence is a house, apartment or mobile home and if you own, have a mortgage, rent, are squatting, etc.
Question 4 asks for your phone number.
Question 5 asks for your name, last, first and middle initial.
Question 6 asks for your gender.
Question 7 asks for your age, in years, then they ask for your date of birth – month, day and year. I would think that with one of those (age or date of birth) that they could figure out the other. At least it could be programed into the government computers.
Does race matter?
After question 7 there is a note: “NOTE: Please answer BOTH Question 8 about Hispanic origin and Question 9 about race. For this census, Hispanic origins are not races.” I guess they get to change the dictionary. One of the definitions for race at Dictionary.com (1st definition in the second list) “noun 1. a group of persons related by common descent or heredity.” But not for the government.
None of the questions after the first are needed for a head count. But questions 8 & 9 are those that concern me the most. Why do they need to know the nationality of the individual citizens. We are all supposed to be created equal and treated equal. We have all kinds of laws to see to that.
Is it because they want to know the precise makeup of neighborhoods so the gerrymandering can be done to be certain some state will get a higher proportion of a specific race of representatives? Is it so they can claim that we have such a high percentage of a given race that the government must provide special services to them. We are all equal, remember?
Is it so they can claim we have so many people of a given race that it justifies printing government documents in a different language? I would never move to a different country, which spoke a different language, without learning the language of that country.
Question 10 asks if I sometimes live or stay elsewhere. Such as in college or in jail. As long as I don’t get counted more than once on April 1, it does not matter where I am on April 2, or January 1 or December 31.
The rest of your household.
Then they ask pretty much the same questions for the next 5 people living in the household. Questions 1-4 are skipped and they make question 5 be question 1. A new question 2 asks the relationship of the person to Person 1. Questions 6-10 become questions 3-7.
In case they have not covered your whole household yet, persons 7-12 are asked a smaller group of questions. They are asked their name, gender, age, date of birth and if they are related to Person 1.
I wish I did have an unrelated lodger. I’d ask him or her to be Person 1 and my wife and I would be Persons 2 and 3. Or maybe we’d skip 2-6 and be 7 & 8. Yeah, I like that idea better.
Since question 1 is the only really legitimate question on this form, it could have been done on a post card instead of a sheet of paper that is 11” by 26 ½” – an odd size that no doubt cost the government even more money.
But that’s OK. It’s so we can get some of our money back. Isn’t that a good thing?
One more thing. Do you think there is any significance in the fact that the count day is April 1 – April Fools’ Day?
Tags: Census, Constitution, Enumeration, Madison, The Law That Never Was
Today I received a post card from the Census Bureau. On the front, above the recipient’s address was a box with the words: “Your response to the U.S. Census Bureau is required by law.” On the back was the message which began: “A few days ago, you should have received a request to participate in the 2010 Census”
That is sort of like the fellow holding a gun to your head saying, “Would you PLEASE give my your money.” Isn’t it nice when people are courteous?