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I love the radio and TV ads that have been running encouraging Americans to fill out Census forms that are coming in the mail this month. Elsewhere, I advocate a simple form of civil disobedience – do NOT fill the form out. However, what I wanted to point out is the reasoning the Census folks are giving Americans to fill it out. It goes something like this:

Fill the Census forms out to make sure your community “gets its fair share” from the Federal government.

If we look to the Constitution, a flawed document though it is, it would seem to indicate that the reason to hold a decennial census is to make sure people in the United States are fairly represented in Congress. In other words, the intention is make sure the democratic process works well and fairly for everyone. Now, we are being told overtly that the reason for the Census is not really to make sure we represent people right, but to make sure we know who to “spread the wealth” to. You see, politics is not about helping us govern ourselves, it is simply about extracting resources from our neighbors to transfer back to ourselves.

Furthermore, think about the mathematical logic of the “urges” to fill the Census forms out – to make sure everyone gets their “fair” share. How can it be that all districts will get their fair share? Many will be taxed more than they will receive in benefits just as many will receive more in benefits than they will be taxed. Is it at all clear that filling out the forms will ensure your community gets more funds? How can every community get a fairer share of funds? Maybe not filling the form out will help your community get less exploited. Perhaps that is possible, no? My sense is that the fine people of Pittsford pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits, and being honest about our financial situations would seem to put a big fat tax target on our backs. Not that the folks from the Census think anybody is smart enough to figure that out.

Update: Just after posting this I got a “notification” letter in the mail from the census reminding me that my 2010 Census form will be coming in the mail next week. Here is what it says:

Your response is important. Results from the 2010 Census will be used to help each community get its fair share of government funds for highways, schools, health facilities, and many other programs you and your neighbors need.

First of all, it is not the government’s money – it is your money and my money. At least they are honest about what they do. Second what is this about need? The Census is telling me, indeed trying to scare me, about what I “need.” Without government highways and schools and hospitals I would presumably perish. This scare talk is barely appropriate language for a blog – but when the elites are in office, it is celebrated in official correspondence with “the people.”

6 Responses to “Census Officials to Americans: You Are Stupid and You Will Die Without Us”

  1. Harry says:

    Yeah, I wretched when I got the same notice.

    But Wintercow, the census determines not just the presents Nancy Pelosi sends you, but also congressional apportionment. You can bet Acorn will be double or triple counting everyone the run into under all bridges and overpasses from sea to shining sea. Please be counted, assuming you are a person and not a Holstein, though if you have a sire summary of +1800, you deserve to be double counted by Acorn. Remember, you and Mrs. Wintercow might make a difference in the makeup of the New York delegation to the House of Representatives.

    Last night we watched Star Trek on TV, and I swear I saw an alien who looked just like Henry Waxman.

  2. Harry says:

    Today I got mine, and Linda told me not to be a smartass by checking the “other” race box and filling in “human.”

    I also resisted telling them I had an extra fifteen people living here, even though it seemed like that when my sister-in-law visited us over Christmas.

    There was another question that was temporary baffiling: do you live anywhere else?

    I doubt they want to cross-reference the New York/ West Palm beach voters, but I wonder about what they were asking.Do you mean I live in a hotel most of the time, and does that qualify me for one vote per state hotel night stay? Are those votes cumulative, and retroactive, like capital gains loss carryforewards?
    I will remember my words as I look for a Scrabble bingo against my expert daughter.

  3. Michael says:

    The whole census thing is a fraud. It’s supposed to count people for our representation in Congress, but no where does it ask if the people are citizens of the US (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/census-reaches-hispanics-illegal-immigrants/story?id=9761158). I got mine and I’m thinking about participating in the uprising; only filling out the first question.

  4. Speedmaster says:

    When it comes to getting federal or even state funding I see only three scenarios:

    1. Your community receives more in state/federal funding than it paid in taxes. In this scenario, you are stealing from people elsewhere.
    2. You community receives less in state/federal funding than it paid in taxes. In this scenario, people elsewhere are stealing from you.
    3. Your community receives exactly the same amount in in state/federal funding as it paid in taxes. In this scenario, wait for it, what’s the point? And this doesn’t even get into waste, patronage, and dead-weight losses.

  5. Unhappy American says:

    I didn’t fill it out at all…i’m leaving this sad country anyway.
    My mom filled it out (for some untold and obviously sad reason, so I told her better you than me. The way I see it…there is no hope left for us as an American and it goes without saying that I’ll hopefully NOT be American soon.

  6. Doug says:

    The author of this headline article may wish to edit the second paragraph to read “flawed document though it is,” rather than “thought it is.”

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