Census questionaire

[Ol Man River]

well how many are filling it out completely

me, I just put the number of people
and sealed it up.

[mare]

Number of people only.

[Dakota Sunrise]

me, I just put the number of people
and sealed it up.

I'm not 18 yet and still live at home so I didn't get my own census questionaire. But my dad did the exact same thing you did.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

I haven't done mine yet.

Problem is... I get one where I really live in my "permanent address" and another one in the rental place where I spend weekdays. Should be fun when they start showing up to find out why I didn't turn one in.

All things considered, I'm not one of those people that has a big problem with the census. It's one of the very few Constitutionally-mandated responsibilities of government. They have to do it. It just doesn't piss me off.

That said... this bidness of mapping everybody by race is seriously demented. It dates back to the days when representation of "slave" states was determined by the 3/5 rule: slaves only counted in the census as 3/5th's of a "person" for the purposes of apportioning representation in the House.

There is no other reason to acknowledge race in the census at all. If you're not intending to distribute congressional representation by race... there's no other reason to collect that data.

Q.E.D.

[mare]

Problem is... I get one where I really live in my "permanent address" and another one in the rental place where I spend weekdays. Should be fun when they start showing up to find out why I didn't turn one in.



My form did not come with my address on it. Just a general city, state, zip under "Respondent." :shrug:

[WashingtonBay]

I agree on race data, and we'll be one giant leap forward the day we stop tracking it. I've done my part.


The census does have a plan for people who move around. You're supposed to answer it wherever you are on April 1.



So they build all their answers on April Fool's Day. Just seems ripe for mischief.

[offgridgirl]

So they build all their answers on April Fool's Day. Just seems ripe for mischief.

hehehehe...ain't that right!!

We had ours last year...it was 2 very longgggg pages(11x14) and wanted all sorts of info....I gave my name and signed it and sent it back.;)

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Oh... and the advertising campaign for the census is just sickening. They're making it all about "getting your fair share" of government goodies. Blech. It's like a punch in the gut every time.

Sorry folks, but that's not what the census is for.

[Tiz]

Yuck. The new American ideal, your "fair share" of the fruit of someone else's hard work. Embarrassing.

We are Americans. We are immigrants, and born of immigrants. Our heritage is of people who, instead of living under a Monarch's rule or a government's crushing conditions, had the spine to go in search of a better life. Our fair share now? So sad.

[vicklynn]

I got mine, didnt fill it out. Im glad you put this thread up, cause now I know just to put how many live here and send it in. I did put our names. Im sure they already know who we are anyway. Its in their data base.

[Ol Man River]

here is something I found on a census blog:

Use this letter to respond to the Census form you receive…

To Whom it May Concern,
Pursuant to Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution, the only information you are empowered to request is the total number of occupants at this address. My “name, sex, age, date of birth, race, ethnicity, telephone number, relationship and housing tenure” have absolutely nothing to do with apportioning direct taxes or determining the number of representatives in the House of Representatives. Therefore, neither Congress nor the Census Bureau have the constitutional authority to make that information request a component of the enumeration outlined in Article I, Section 2, Clause 3. In addition, I cannot be subject to a fine for basing my conduct on the Constitution because that document trumps laws passed by Congress.

Interstate Commerce Commission v. Brimson, 154 U.S. 447, 479 (May 26, 1894)

“Neither branch of the legislative department [House of Representatives or Senate], still less any merely administrative body [such as the Census Bureau], established by congress, possesses, or can be invested with, a general power of making inquiry into the private affairs of the citizen. Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U.S. 168, 190. We said in Boyd v. U.S., 116 U. S. 616, 630, 6 Sup. Ct. 524,―and it cannot be too often repeated,―that the principles that embody the essence of constitutional liberty and security forbid all invasions on the part of government and it’s employees of the sanctity of a man’s home and the privacies of his life. As said by Mr. Justice Field in Re Pacific Ry. Commission, 32 Fed. 241, 250, ‘of all the rights of the citizen, few are of greater importance or more essential to his peace and happiness than the right of personal security, and that involves, not merely protection of his person from assault, but exemption of his private affairs, books, and papers from inspection and scrutiny of others. Without the enjoyment of this right, all others would lose half their value.’”

Note: This United States Supreme Court case has never been overturned.

Respectfully,
A Citizen of the United States of America

[RipSpark]

I just got mine. I was asking my fiance if I really have to fill all that stuff out.

[42many]

Ours was hand-delivered since the good ole govt got our city wrong. The name & address - right. The state and zip - right. The city - WRONG! Go figure. They never seem to have any problems getting any OTHER forms to us... just this "oh so important" one.

[cheval]

So the census isn't for the programs they talk about on the commercial?

[twofingers]

NO. the purpose of the census is for the head count of citizans in order to adiquetly approprate the number of congress persons to represent that area.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

That is correct. It's the only purpose defined in the Constitution. This business of using it to divvy-up "goodies" from the Federal candy store would have been 180 degrees out of phase with everything the founders were about. They created a very weak Federal government on purpose. Most of them, anyway, would be horrified with what we've done with it.

A weak Federal government is hard to corrupt. An all-powerful Federal government is corrupt before the sun rises on it.

[outriding01]

We're supposed to go to our leasing office to pick our up this week. Our will have # of people in the house hold and that is all. Possibly that nifty little letter OMR posted as well. I've been getting this urge lately to just drop ff the map more and more lately...