Political foo: The Census

[alpharaposa]

The thing that strikes me about this letter, just like the commercials I've seen, is that it says that it's important to fill out the census form so that your neighborhood can get its "fair share" of government programs.

This is not what the census is for.

According to The Constitution, the reason we have a Constitutionally mandated census every ten years is to allocate representation in the House of Representatives. Districts are redesigned and new ones may be created in order that the population as a whole is equally represented in our "lower" House.

The federal government may also use this data in order to send money to people, but this is not the intended purpose of the census and has nothing to do with why we have to redo it every ten years.

On that note, I really like this idea and think I will do it. Let's all be Americans.

Comments

[prester-scott.livejournal.com]

Except that there are draconian penalties associated with answering the Census incompletely or falsely, so if FedGov decides to play hardball with you over it, you're screwed.

[stryck.livejournal.com]

According to the person who suggested it at The Corner in the first place, "American" was accepted as a legitimate answer last time the Census was conducted. (http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=MjZhYzg4ZmQzZDU2YjJhYzllMGFiODZmZTQyNDIwYTQ=)

[prester-scott.livejournal.com]

Noted, although that was 2000, when we had an Administration that was not nearly as vindictive.

[stryck.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the current DoJ is particularly hung up on race, too.

[neppyman.livejournal.com]

I think it's more of a "carrot" approach. Most people don't really care how representatives are apportioned, and saying something like "make sure your district is counted to receive appropriate representation in your state and federal governments" is kind of... bland.

"Make sure your district gets money" is a bit more tangible incentive, although it certainly does fly in the face of what the Census is supposed to accomplish.

Although we'd be fools to deny that one of the things our representatives are elected to do is to do just that - get money for their districts.

I suppose it's a bit of a "we don't want to talk about that" kind of indirect effect of the Census.

[stryck.livejournal.com]

Language defines culture. In this case, the language is that "you should do this so that the government gives you more money." This contributes to a culture that puts up with a bloated, debt-ridden government so long as "my area" gets its "fair share".

The language should be "you should do this so that your government can reflect your area's values" by providing sufficient representation. "You should do this so that your town gets a vote on big issues," would be even better.

Less than a third of our population currently believes that the government in Washington actually has "the consent of the governed" for what it does. I think people want to feel that the government is responsible to them. Instead, we get told that we have to fill out paperwork in order to have the government spend more money on whatever it feels like doing today.

[neppyman.livejournal.com]

It would be nice if "because it's your civic duty" was enough of an incentive. Alas, it's not.

[level-head.livejournal.com]

The government spends so very much, so badly, that you could say they've taken leave of their census.

I just realized that, so far as I can recall, it has been more than four years since we last crossed paths. That was in Prester_Scott's LJ.

Good to see you again!

===|==============/ Level Head

[stryck.livejournal.com]

Heh. I'm not sure why I haven't peeked at your journal earlier, honestly. I still see your comments on a few others' livejournals (Jordan's and Prester_Scotts's come to mind). Just never got around to it until recently.