Rep. Patrick McHenry (R) of North Carolina is one of the more conservative members of Congress. He has even proposed replacing the image of U.S. Grant on the $50 bill with the image of Ronald Reagan. But, Rep. McHenry is in favor of the Census and is encouraging people to fully respond to the Census and/or to Census takers who show up at your door. In part he says:
What worries me is blatant misinformation coming from otherwise well-meaning conservatives. . . Anyone who tells you that this year’s census is unconstitutional and that you are not required to fill out the form completely is flat out wrong. . .
I’m worried about this year’s census. . . I’m not even worried about privacy – this year’s 10-question census form is the shortest in memory. . . No, what worries me is blatant misinformation coming from otherwise well-meaning conservatives. They are trying to do the right thing, but instead they are helping big government liberals by discouraging fellow conservatives from filling out their census forms. . . If we do not respond, we will not be counted and if we are not counted, then we effectively will not exist. That would reduce conservatives’ power in elections. . .
Boycotting the census also offends me as an American patriot. Our society spends too much time talking about what government owes us; and not enough on the duties of citizenship and the hard work required to keep our freedom. Filling out the census is one of the few things our Constitution specifically asks of U.S. citizens and it is our duty as Americans to take that responsibility seriously. . . [Emphasis mine]
Every census in U.S. history has asked for more information than a simple count. In fact, the most private question on this year’s form asks for an individual’s race and that question has been asked by every census since the 1790 census conducted under then-President George Washington. To suggest that this question or others like it make this year’s census unconstitutional is absurd.
I read some of the follow-up comments. Despite Rep. McHenry pointing out the constitutionality of the Census and despite his pointing out that the “race” question has been asked since the first Census, I was not surprised to see that the right wing(nuts) were still claiming that it had somehow now become unconstitutional to do what the Constitution specifically requires the national government to do. In passing, Rep. McHenry points out that the Constitution specifically says that the Census shall be conducted as the law directs, which means, as he clearly points out, that the questions on the Census are constitutional given what the law has directed since 1790. But, even Rep. McHenry cannot convince the right wing(nuts) in his own district who are now upset that he would support such an obviously freedom-robbing, and therefore unconstitutional, measure such as the Census.
Frankly, this confirms for me a few things that I have often thought about the right wing(nuts). They do not understand logic or do not care. Despite Rep. McHenry pointing out that the Census and the right to ask questions are enshrined in the Constitution, the wing(nuts) continue to state that it and/or the questions are not constitutional or that as citizens they have the right to refuse to obey a direct Constitutional provision. The other possibility, of course, could confirm one of my bad dreams–that may become a nightmare someday–, the bad dream in which I realize that the right wing(nuts) only use the Constitution as a fig leaf for their actions and that if they were ever to win control, the fig leaf would quickly be thrown away and the Constitution would simply either be ignored or amended as necessary to fit their ideology. I have exactly the same bad dream–nightmare–about the left wing(nuts), but we are not talking about them in this post.
Some of the lowest Census returns in the country are in some of the most conservative areas of Texas. There are several counties were the return rate is only around 25%, while the national average is around 50%. And, then, I remembered that Rep. McHenry also said:
No one has advocated a direct boycott of the census but there have been calls to only partially fill out census forms – even though that would be a direct violation of federal law. Those calls are the problem. They feed a climate of mistrust in the census and need to be refuted. Unless conservatives understand how important it is to participate in the census, that climate will result in fewer conservatives being counted and hand Nancy Pelosi more congressional seats.
Obviously the people in Texas have begun a boycott that is also found in many conservative areas of the country. While “no one” may have advocated a direct boycott–so as to avoid being fined–several of the media right-wing commentators have hinted at that, one even going as far as making remarks about meeting Census counters at the door with a shotgun. But, that boycott would indeed be a wonderful dream for people like me (moderates). Yes, please, right wing(nuts) do ignore Rep. McHenry. Do not let yourself be counted. Please end up with fewer representatives in Congress. Wait, maybe I can even convince you that signing up to vote is unconstitutional because it asks you to fully and completely identify yourself and “forces” you to provide full identification information. Yes, that’s it! The process of signing up to vote is unconstitutional, so stop signing up to vote. (I wonder if I can convince Rep. Michele Bachmann of this?) This country needs fewer of you in Congress. If we are fortunate as a country, we will never have another Rep. Michele Bachmann. Maybe the next representative of that region will be a moderate.
For those of you who are right wing but not (nuts), please do go out and fill out the Census form and please do register to vote. We need more people like Peggy Noonan arguing for a rational conservatism. There is nothing wrong with being right-wing or left-wing or moderate or some perpendicular offshoot, but the wing(nuts) on each side are having some destructive effects on this country.
A brief update on this post: Most people do not realize that the actual Census questions, both short-form and long-form are easily available online. Sites such as the actual Census website or Ancestry.com or several university archives have a record of the questions dating all the way back to the original Census. Some sites even have image files so that you can look at the actual filled out census forms from the various censuses taken in this country. I urge you to read the questions and realize how many of the questions to which people object with this Census date back well over a century and a half. Perhaps this will let you realize how inappropriate some of the objections being raised are. Privacy is not the issue that the demagogues are trying to sell to you.
I agree that the Census is legal — and justified — but I’m not so sure about the long form (American Community Survey) which asks things like “how long does it take you to get to work?” If there is an opt-out which lets you answer only the 10 questions, I’m completely happy.
The 1990 Census long form, taken under the presidency of George H.W. Bush, following the presidency of Ronald Reagan, asked questions such as what type of building you lived in; how much did it cost; if you were renting, how much you paid; what fuel you used for heating the house; what the yearly costs for utilities were; whether the building was connected to a public sewer; how many babies the women of the household have had, to include stillbirths; where (name and address) the person worked, and YES, how did you get to work.
The 1970 Census long form, taken under the presidency of Richard Nixon, asked questions such as do you have a telephone and what is the number; do you have a tv; do you have a radio; how many cars do you have; how many babies the women of the household have had, to include stillbirths; and YES, where do you work and how do you get there.
The 1880 Census had questions on, YES, where do you work and whether you have worked in the last week, and so on.
There were no major set of complaints when almost identical questions were asked in the past, even when Republican presidents were in power. The uproar about the Census is unprecedented, given that the exact same type of questions have been being asked on the long form for decades. Frankly, this is a case of people who know little about history and have been stirred up by TV and radio personalities who are looking to keep their ratings high.
I love the census. Genealogical research of my family has benefitted greatly from the census. The mystery of how my grandmother met my grandfather was solved by family stories confirmed by the census. Now this is not of historical importance to the country, but it is sure very cool!! There is a lot to be learned from the census about our history and changing national culture.
I do feel that there are some questions that are a bit invasive in the long form of the census and that the extra questions should not be mandatory whether they are asked during a republican or a democratic administration. Of course, taking only voluntary responses might give a biased data base, but I am not sure that anyone needs to know how long it takes me to get to work or what that has to do with counting people (unless they are going to use that information to build better roads!!). I am not saying that it is unconstitutional–just nosy!! Maybe if they told me what that information would be used for or if it was asked on a seperate sheet that had no identifiers on it. Of course, anyone can say anything even if it is a lie and no one chacks up on it. Witness during the days of Jim Crow, the documented cases of light skinned folks “passing.” I am sure they “passed” on the census as well!! So if you don’t like the questions–don’t answer them or as an internet aquaintance did on the last long one–just put does not apply…..no one said a word!!
Much ado about nothing and tempest in a teapot are phrases that come to mind. There seems to be an overabundance of folks whose religion is their leftist or rightist or greenist or other political stance. Most folks are somewhere in the middle is my guess. I am personally more of a libertarian than anything but I am mostly not an anything–just a person who still stands and salutes when the flag goes by.
During the last Census, somebody had this idea for a protest against the Race breakdown checkboxes.
The idea was that since humans originated in Africa, EVERYBODY check the “AFRICAN-American” box.
(Or protest that there’s no box for “Lizard People”…)
I have a daughter who is mixed race and was highly insulted that there was nowhere last census to put that information. I thought that they should have a box labeled plain old American Mutt!! Alix
When do you have time to pastor and or evangelize these right wing nuts? Or is that taboo or too time consuming?
So if the wingnuts don’t comply with the census there will be less representation in predominately wingnut districts. Isn’t this a win-win situation?
I think Americans are lucky to have a census that is preserved and preserves genealogical information. Our census returns in South Africa are destroyed once statistical information has been abstracted, therefore I find it hard to take it seriously. I do, however, object to questions on race. We are supposed to be a non-racial democracy, yet we are still asked questions about race as if apartheid were still in force.