“I actually feel sick.”
Karen is at her desk studying the 2010 U.S. Census form that just arrived in the mail.
“What’s happening to this country?” Karen murmurs, “this obsession with race and color.”
Indeed, the 2010 Census overflows with grim little boxes that demand to know your race, color, ethnicity, and tribe.
The federal government has a dizzying array of racial programs that need to be fed. There are laws, there are grants, there are endless entitlement programs for your every racial/ethnic/gender category.
In 1935, the Germans created the Nuremberg Laws in order to “scientifically” categorize Jews.
I was brought up to believe that only Nazis—and vampires—are obsessed with blood.
I thought we were Americans.
Apparently not.
Bravo for Michele Bachman who refuses to fill out the entire form.
Ariel Chaim Avrech, ZT'L, May His Righteous Memory be a Blessing.
20 Comments
I’m confused Robert… is the form above the 2010 census form, or is it the ACS form (or another document)? According to the Census Bureau, there is no long form this year. Instead, everyone receives the short form and each year a select number of citizens will participate in the American Community Survey (which replaces the long form).
(See http://2010.census.gov/partners/pdf/ConstituentFAQ.pdf for more info)
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Bret…an assertion is not an argument.
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I figure I have their head spinning at the “Senless”. I filled out my race and filled out my daughter’s race which aren’t the same.
One other thing, Back about 1990, I was one of the guys who installed the StorageTek tape robots at the Census. The same ones you see in “True Lies” and “Eraser”, to name a few movies they were in.
I could tell a few stories about the Unionized computer room the Census has. It is dysfunctional. The only way to fix it is to remove the Union.
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Robert, information about race/ethnicity may not be necessarily employed for preferential treatment. For any government it is important to keep track of which groups are contributing to the economy, which groups are doing well and which groups are not. Of course this information can be used inappropriately, but by itself it’s simply part of gathering statistics on the social makeup of a country, especially for a country as multicultural as the US. Most countries do this, most corporations do this as part of job applications and as someone mentioned above, it has been part of previous censuses. But it certainly should not be mandatory.
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Karen:
You know – they only want to help us!
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Regardless of whether or not the government is constitutionally required to gather certain pieces of information, it is still wise for them to insist of getting it. The information that will be given to the US Federal Government will be used in many instances for causes and efforts that are beyond our ability to see the impact of today. By refusing to fill out the 2010 Census, you are justifying the blatancies of ignorance and bad policy. Besides, it only makes sense.
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Remember that one of the first evil acts of this administration was to move the Census from the Commerce Bureau to the Executive Branch, which was almost certainly unconstitutional.
Why did they do it?
One comment I found that makes sense was this:
“The reason the Republicans are upset is that the White House has proposed that the Census Bureau does not need to actually count people, but only make a “statistical estimate” since Democrats are “chronically underrepresented” because the homeless aren’t counted in the Census. In other words, under the Obama administration, we won’t actually count people or votes any more. The White House gets to assign whatever numbers they want. That is a huge mistake.”
I do have to think there was not one good reason for the power grab and putting Census under the Obama White House. The above may or may not be true, but sounds about right.
The Census is only supposed to be for the purposes of:
…in order to apportion members of the House of Representatives to each of the states. In the intervening years the law requires the Census Bureau to gather statistics about the residents of the United States for use by Congress…
Why does Congress need to know if I”m Hispanic or Icelandic or dark or green-polka-dotted? Robert, love your reasoning about someone else getting shtupped…it says it all!
Congress needs to know how much money I make, how many toilets I have, how much I spent on electricity, what appliances are in my kitchen…these and many others are in the long forms sent out to 1 in 6.
No they don’t.
Not to give out any advice, as I’m no lawyer, but the only thing that is constitutionally mandated is to answer the number of people in your house or apartment.
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A few more points:
1. Failure to fill out the form can result in a $5,000.00 fine.
2. Hundreds of millions of Federal dollars are being allocated to—what a shock—ACORN as 2010 census workers. That should fill you with confidence.
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I’m certain that the question about race/ethnicity has been on previous census forms.
I had many friends who worked for the census in 1980 and remember hearing stories about a many step process they needed to go through anytime the race/ethnicity field was left blank.
IIRC, the 2000 census was the first time one could check more than one box for race.
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Hey, Robert, thanks for the heads up. After reading this, I guess I won’t even be opening my census envelope, which arrived today, although I think I’m breaking the law by ignoring it.
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Has anyone compared this to previous census documents? I have filled out several times and I can’t remember if this is different or the same.
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I plan to check the ‘Some other race’ box, and where asked to print race, I will print ‘Mixed’.
I am mixed. Some Irish, some Brit, some German and some Dutch. Even some Native American in there.
My guess is that most of us are pretty mixed.
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Now I know that my reaction was not an isolated freak out. Can you imagine how this bodes for the future if National Health takes over? Big Brother will survey every mole (physical) that erupts.
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Davo:
1. It seems to me that preferential treatment for one citizen because of race, color, tribe, whatever, automatically means that someone else is getting shtupped.
2. Modern Jewish history teaches that leftist governments always turn against Jews. Thus, I’m acutely suspicious of a government that is preoccupied with categorizing its citizens by race, color, tribe, whatever. This is racism 101, and never bodes well for any society.
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I returned it blank, with a note invoking my Right against Involuntary Servitude under the 13th Amendment. I’m going to find out just how Free this country really is.
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I think the information is essential for getting information on immigration statistics, although “color” and “tribe” are unnecessary. Corporate job applications also usually ask for optional information about race and ethnicity. Per se I don’t find anything wrong with it, as long as it is not used to discriminate against people.
What I found more amusing was that they sent out a letter saying that they are going to send out the census. Quite unnecessary.
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I always put “American”. Like Moishe3rd, I am the 13th generation on this continent, and I think that qualifies me as an American.
Theoretically, they can fine me for not answering the questions. But if we all refuse to answer, they won’t have the manpower to do it.
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And to think that she is an elected Representative from our Minnesota, “The State where Absolutely Nothing is Allowed.” Will Wonders never cease?
I did indeed fill in “Other.” I chose “Native American.” I contemplated putting down the ScotsJewish tribe under “American Indian,” but that would have been untrue so, as a 13th generation native of this continent, I chose Native American.
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I filled out:
Name
Address
Age
Race: human
Nothing else. Not Constitutionally allowed questions. And I wrote that on the form.
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Someone suggested filling out “other” for race and putting “American”.
I remember going though this 10 years ago. Not filling out particular boxes that I considered to be particularily offensive. A few months later they sent someone out to talk to me.
Don’t remember how that turned out.
Maybe we could all say that we are Inuits this time.
Confuse the guvmint.
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