"The fine for census non-compliance has never been enforced during the entire history of the census."

-- Robert D. Clair 
[yes, that is the name given]
www.census.gov 

  Editorial

Census has become a tool of Socialist State Building
by Sterling D. Allan
© 2000 Greater Things News Service
March 13, 2000

There is only one constitutional question in the census -- "How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment or mobile home on April 1, 2000?"  That's it.  All other questions should be voluntary of the 8 in the census short form and of the 52 in the census long form that one in six households will receive.  To present them as mandatory, meaning that the government can use all necessary force to compel compliance, is unconstitutional.  To answer them fuels the Big Brother socialist society we are becoming.

The "mandatory" action is a violation of our right to privacy under the Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendment.  The "right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and affects, against unreasonable searches and seizures," mentioned in the Fourth, for example, must not be infringed.

Questions such as :  (5,6) your race; (16) whether or not you have physical disabilities; (17) whether or not anyone in your household with physical, mental, or emotional condition lasting six months or more has a hard time remembering, difficulty getting dressed or getting in and out of the tub; (23) your mode of transportation to work;  (31) your income level; are all designed to help Big Brother know how to redistribute the wealth and enact racial hiring quotas.

To answer the questions beyond the one legitimate question in the long and short forms is to support the incessant move away from a free government and toward a socialist state.  It is not only the right but the duty of patriotic citizens to not provide answers for the illegitimate questions.

There chance that the Census Bureau would impose the $100 fine is almost nil [see above quotes].  Even so, which is worse, financially and morally :  the remote possibility of a fine or the huge increases in taxes that will come to fund more socialist government programs facilitated by this data to forcefully redistribute the wealth?

Manti, Utah

Mail complaints to:
US Census Bureau
Decennial Management Division
Suitland Federal Center
Bldg. #2 Room 2002
Washington, D.C. 20233

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March 13, 2000; 3:08 PM

Sterling -- The letter about the Imperial Census was terrific. I don't know if you've been exposed to the recent letter (should I say "bull"?) from Salt Lake City on this subject, which was read in our Ward yesterday (March 12). It piously informed us that we had a civic and constitutional duty to comply with the Census Cheka, and recited (in somewhat discursive form) the Ruling Party's line that the value of the census resides in its role in developing "social programs" and the like. In other words: Be good little knaves and help the Gadiantons dole out the plunder more evenly, so that we can all share in the spoils.

[...] It doesn't take inspiration to understand why plunder and looting are wrong; all it takes is the sort of rudimentary ethics that are supposedly extolled in GBH's insipid little ghost-written book (and no, I don't mean Holy Ghost-written either).

Take care,

Will

Sterling,
Good for you in writing to the Editor!  Who did you send it to?  I support your point whole-heartedly and would rather pay the $100 fine than comply with unconstitutional questions (even though we'll probably be targeted as a result).  We got the long form and the questions are very intrusive.

Lori & Mike

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 Related Sites

Exercise your constitutional rights; answer the only question you must according to the constitution, the number of people in your household. For all other questions plead the fifth (amendment). That way you can avoid the hundred dollar fine.

Question authority, in other words tell Big Brother to stuff it. Marcus

Subject: U.S. Census

A few facts about the upcoming census.

If you're not surprised, puzzled, and even downright offended by the 2000 Census form, it's probably because you haven't seen it yet. The questions range from strange ("Do you take a ferryboat to work?") to invasive ("Do you have trouble bathing?") to downright un-American ("What is your race?").

The Census Bureau says it's your civic duty to answer these snooping questions. In reality, it's your patriotic duty to refuse to answer. You can strike a blow for privacy, equality, and liberty by declining to answer every question on the Census form except the one required by the Constitution: How many people live in your home?

The U.S. Constitution says the purpose of the Census is to make an "actual enumeration." That is, to take an accurate count of Americans for the purpose of apportioning congressional districts. But the federal government has gone far beyond that mandate. The long version of the Census -- which one in every six households will receive -- contains a whopping 52 questions. That's 51 more than the Constitution requires. Maybe that's why compliance with the Census had plummeted to just 65% by 1990.

In a desperate effort to reverse that trend, Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt recently held a press conference in Washington, DC. He pleaded with Americans to view the 2000 Census -- which is now being mailed to 120 million households -- as "the nation's first major civics ceremony of the new century." The results of the Census, lectured Prewitt, "affect power, money, group interests, civil rights; in short, who gets how much of what."

That's exactly what's wrong with the Census -- and why Americans should boycott almost every question. The government uses Census information to dole out an estimated $180 billion in taxpayers' money, to justify and expand wasteful government programs, and to allow politicians to discriminate against Americans based on their racial or ethnic background.

The racial questions, which appear on both the short and long form, demand Americans pigeonhole themselves into 15 "official" racial categories: white; black/African-American/Negro; American Indian or Alaska Native; Spanish/Hispanic/Latino; Asian Indian; Chinese; Filipino; Japanese; Korean; Vietnamese; other Asian; Native Hawaiian; Guamanian or Chamorro; Samoan; or other Pacific Islander.

Such racial data provides the statistical blueprint for race-based government programs, like the mandatory 10% minority set-aside for federal highway projects, quotas for college admissions, and even decisions on whom to hire and fire. Refusing to answer such questions is a good first step towards ending such government racism.

Other questions, while not as offensive, still deserve a vigorous "None of your business."

Question 17a, for example, asks whether "because of a physical, mental,or emotional condition," does anyone in your home have any trouble "learning, remembering, or concentrating?" Question 17b asks whether you have any difficulty "dressing, bathing, or getting around in the home." Question 24b asks how long it takes you to get to work. Question 23 wants to know how you get there -- and there are an astounding 10 choices, including streetcar, bus, railroad, ferryboat, or taxicab! Presumably, politicians will use this data to justify squandering billions of dollars on new transportation boondoggles. The form even includes nine income-related questions -- more than appear on the IRS's 1040 short form.

So let's say you decide not to answer those prying questions. What happens? Unfortunately, the government has ways of making you talk. Title 13, Chapter 7 of the U.S. code mandates a $100 fine for those who decline to answer Census questions, and Prewitt says the bureau will "consider whether to prosecute" on a case-by-case basis. What kind of government demands, under penalty of law, reams of personal data -- including racial characteristics -- from its citizens? Ours does. That's why it's time for some polite, patriotic civil disobedience. If you care about privacy, genuine equality, and old-fashioned American liberty, the arrival of the Census form is your chance to literally stand up and be counted. Tell them how many people live in your home, and that's all. Maybe $100 is a small price to pay for making a principled stand for privacy and freedom.

Matt Beauchamp
www.LPChicago.org

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  Supplemental Material

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  A Census Joke

An old man was setting on his porch, when a young man walked up with a pad and pencil in his hand.

  "What are you selling, young man?" he asked.

  "I'm not selling anything, sir," the young man replied. "I'm the Census Taker."

  "A what?" the man asked.

  "A Census Taker. We are trying to find out how many people are in the United States."

  "Well," the man answered, "You're wasting your time with me, I have no idea."

-- from jokeawhenever.com

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Page last updated on November 04, 2007