Perusing my Census Form

…and damn if I’m not tempted to put down a “3” under number of people in the household and leave the rest blank. You really think they would send the FBI after me?

I know I have bigger battles to fight, but could a lawyer type cite me where in the constitution gives Congress the authority to require me to disclose anything more than that? I’m feeling peckish today :wink:

During the last census, I was very busy. I was between living quarters, and my business had some crazy stuff going on. I elected to ignore any/all mail. Well, the census woman stopped at my house repeatedly, leaving messages. Thing is, I was staying with a friend, and when I did get her messages, I had more important things in my life.

Eventually the woman showed up at my place of business asking for me. I blew my top. I told her she should get the fuck off of my property or I would get my gun. I was embarrassed by my behavior after the fact, but she did leave. I never heard from her again and there were (apparently) no repercussions.

I filled mine out and sent it in and the census lady still came to my door.

I am not a lawyer, but I think the Constitution only specifically mentions the “enumeration”. I think the rest of the demographic data is required by various laws. Similarly, the Constitution doesn’t specifically require you to provide a driver’s license to a police officer during a traffic stop, but I think you’re required to do that.

I found out today that despite paying taxes and voting in Nevada, I am not allowed to be counted in the population of Nevada to determine Congressional representation.

Us overseas Americans have taxation without real representation.

Of course not. The FBI does not enforce the census. They will send a census employee after you.

By all means, feel free to do that - the tens of thousands of enumerators will be happy to have the work. If everyone filled out their forms completely I’d be out of job.

That’s because even census workers don’t love their job enough to get shot for it. If you had fired, though, THEN the FBI would have paid a visit - assaulting Federal employees is a big no-no.

Seriously, why did you blow your stack at her? She’s just doing her job. Would you appreciate it if you showed up to work and one of the clients threatened to blow your head off? C’mon people - census employees are people, too!

That’s one thing I do dread about the upcoming enumerator assignment - nutballs with guns. This time around, remember the person you’re threatening might be a fellow Doper.

I was thinking of starting a census thread but mostly because, having taken the necessary 60 seconds to fill it out yesterday, I have a hard time understanding what all the frothing-at-the-mouth crowd is so upset about.

The census form asks the following Highly Confidential Questions:

  1. How many people live at this address.
  2. Name, birthdate/age and race of each of the people in (1).
  3. Phone number in case we don’t understand any of your responses.

And that’s basically it. No questions about nationality, citizenship, immigration status, gun ownership, political affiliation…nothing but the above bits of info. And for people who object on whatever grounds to the “race” question you can check “other” and write “Human”.

As to the privacy aspects of it, I wish that every business I had dealings with had a privacy policy as clear as the US Census data, which was pretty clearly and unambiguously spelled out:

a. Your census data cannot be used for anything other than statistical purposes.
b. Your census data cannot be used against you in court.
c. Your census data cannot be provided to other agencies including the IRS and FBI.
d. Your census data cannot be disclosed via a Freedom Of Information Act.
e. Your census data will remain private for 72 years. Assuming that most posters on this board are adults, odds are that you will have died before your census data is made available.

This is a better policy than every store you go to which asks for your name, address, phone number, want to be on our mailing list, oh come on sure you want to be on our mailing list, can we provide your personal info to everyone who will pay us a nickel and oh be one of the cool crowd and be on our mailing list.

I’m not seeing the hideous invasion of privacy, one world government, totalitarian takeover and other weirdness that some folks are concerned about.

There’s even a card telling you who to call for help in a dozen or so different languages if you have any questions.

I don’t think I have ever seen a simpler, more straightforward form from any government agency, local, state or federal.

Two reasons -

[ol]
[li]They have been sold the line that the Federal Gov’t is only and always Eeeevul![/li]
[li]Obama is President (see #1).[/li][/ol]

Well, I get that a certain portion of them are really utter wingnuts, but I think there’s a lot of folks who have just never actually looked at the form and assume it’s asking for SSN, political views, income, legal status and all kinds of stuff like that.

Well, you did specifically ask about the frothing-at-the-mouth crowd.

Right, but the state of Florida requires me to show a valid license during a traffic stop under its plenary police powers. The national government is one of limited, enumerated powers. I fail to see a power granted to Congress which requires me to name and give the racial makeup of members of my household.

And, no, I’m not frothing at the mouth over this. God knows if the feds want to get me for something (and I have no reason to think, nor do I think so), my name is already in hundreds of databases.

The Constitution says that an enumeration shall take place “within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they [Congress] shall by law direct.”

Congress is directing you to fill out the damn form.

Furthermore, by not filling out the form correctly, you are wasting taxpayer money. It costs an average of $56 each time a census taker is sent to track you down.

But hey, if you really don’t want to fill out the form and mail it back that’s OK with me because I need the work…

Just fill out the goddamn form! There is nothing special about you that the government will use your particular responses to spy on you/harass you/imprison you/rape you/annihilate you. Basic demographic data are important because they let (EVERYONE!) know something about the composition of their country, their state, and their town. It gives organizations–private and public–basic information about the areas they serve. It could translate into more money for bilingual education, for example, if enough people in your area indicate what their race and ethnicity are.

Fill out the goddamn form. Or don’t, and keep some fellow dopers employed and expend more taxpayer money and risk getting harassed about filling out a simple form. If you’re feeling altruistic, just ask our Census Dopers for a PayPal account and give them $56 so you don’t feel guilty about giving them one less person to track down.

I was a manager for the census in 2000. While you are required to fill out the census, they will not pursue legal enforcement of it.

  1. They send you the form.

  2. They send an enumerator to ask you the questions on the form.

  3. They send a manager to ask you the questions on the form and, if needed, locate a postal worker to go through your mail and look for unique names to count. Only postal workers can handle mail and none is opened, but they are allowed to flip through the mail and find out how many live there.

  4. Along with going through mail, we were instructed to, and did, go to the neighbors in the area and ask them to complete the census forms(verbally) for the neighbor who refused.

In the end, we were required to make every effort to figure out how many people live there, even if we could get no other info.

Anyway, do what you want, but filling it out is helpful and not filling it out is quite pointless. They don’t even attach your name to it for 72 years. Unless you mistrust the government completely and think they will connect your name to it, find you, and kill you.

They might. :wink:

Article one of the constitution lists the powers of the goverment among them regulate interstate commerce , run the post office. etc. Section 8 says the Congress has all neccesary and proper powers to do stuff. Gathering data as to where to locate stuff such as post offices is neccesary and proper. Fill out the form.

Took me all of 5 minutes to fill out the form. This is by far the easiest census form I’ve done.

Got my form today. Haven’t opened it yet, but will probably take care of it this weekend.

This

and this

make me glad I clicked on this thread.

The very first U.S. Census ever conducted, back in 1790, had questions about race and ethnicity.