The Strange Bedfellows of the Census Boycott

One of the wonders of modern society is how even minor controversies can snowball into intense political and sociological debates where, apparently, the future of the country hangs in the balance. Really, even Halloween costumes are enough to create verbal fisticuffs.

That's why I'm not surprised that the 2010 census has people tossing around accusations of nefarious intentions, with counter-accusations of idiocy flying back. The fear and hatred of this tedious government exercise has a long history. And with the loathing of the current administration so potent among right-wingers, it's no wonder that the tinfoil-hat crowd insists that filling out the form will somehow end up with you in a government-run gulag.

But I expected the neocons to get upset over the census. What surprised me is that some Latino groups have joined people like noted nutjob Congresswoman Michele Bachmann in calling for a boycott.

The thinking among some Hispanic organizations is that skipping the census is a great way to protest the lack of immigration reform. The Rev. Miguel Rivera, head of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, says that his group has talked 2.5 million Hispanics into refusing to be counted. Rivera hopes that some states will lose representation in Congress due to the undercounting. He believes that, "If politicians don't see the need for immigration reform, then we don't need those politicians anyway."

I can't be the only one who sees the ineffectiveness of this take-my-ball-and-go-home approach. The census only reapportions congressional delegation. It doesn't add or eliminate anything. So I don't see how giving, say, Kansas more votes at the expense of California is going to speed up immigration reform. If anything, this strategy increases the odds of a spectacular backfire.

Then there are those who don't necessarily want to boycott the census, just alter it beyond recognition. A Republican-sponsored proposal calls for a freeze on Census Bureau funds if it doesn't reprint its forms to ask respondents if they are citizens. I, for one, can't imagine who they are targeting or attempting to intimidate with such a question.

We'll ignore the fact that the party of fiscal responsibility is demanding that the government throw away the 400 million forms that have already been printed and start over, at no small expense. Instead, let me point out that presidential administrations of both parties have repeatedly agreed to count everybody, not just citizens. It's pretty much settled law.

I'm also wondering about those conservatives who supposedly want government off our collective backs, and think it's unconstitutional for the census to ask how many bathrooms you have. But it is OK for the bureau to throw in a last-second intrusive question designed specifically to frighten people. I see; it all makes sense now.

In the interest of full disclosure, let me admit that I was once one of those dreaded Census workers (it was a temp job on my summer break from college). I spent three months going door to door in the most wretched parts of my hometown, asking bored or annoyed residents how many people lived in their crumbling shanty of an apartment.

It was a pretty miserable experience, but it paid better than fast food. At no point did I swell with pride that I was helping continue the vital work of Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, etc. Neither did I worry if I was assisting the government with its final preparations for the mass arrest of citizens. It was all rather dull.

I miss those days.

Comments

[jcwtts1]

Here are just a few examples of important uses for census numbers:

* The federal government uses census numbers to allocate over $100 billion in federal funds annually for community programs and services, such as education programs, housing and community development, health-care services for the elderly, job training and many more.

http://people.howstuffworks.com/census2.htm
* State, local and tribal governments use census information for planning and allocating funds for new school construction, libraries and other public buildings, highway safety and public transportation systems, new roads and bridges, location of police and fire departments and many other projects.
* Community organizations use census information to develop social service programs, community action projects, senior lunch programs and child-care centers.
* Businesses use the numbers to decide where to locate factories, shopping centers, movie theaters, banks and offices -- activities that often lead to new jobs.
* The U.S. Congress uses the census totals to determine how many seats your state will have in the U.S. House of Representatives. In addition, states use the numbers to allocate seats in their law-making bodies. President Clinton will deliver the apportionment counts to the 107th Congress during the first week of its regular session in January 2000. The reapportioned Congress, which will be the 108th, will convene in January 2003. This reapportionment of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives could have important political implications.

[pterack5]

Mr.Sparkman is all but forgotten, without any official accounting, . . .wow. . .

[Aaror]

"Instead, let me point out that presidential administrations of both parties have repeatedly agreed to count everybody, not just citizens. It's pretty much settled law. "

It isn't just settled law, it is how the constitution was written!
Of course, if it wasn't written that way, the census would have only counted folks who could legally vote, which is to say landowning white men.

[PaulPotts]

It's just a matter of lying to the census takers. Instead of saying 4 white people live in your domicile, just say ten do. Skew and misrepresent everything you tell them.

[Notrepublicrat]

Isn't the real issue that citizens that are not married to any particular political party are just deeply mis-trustful of government?

I know that to a so-called lefty or righty this sounds loony, but many ordinary citizens simply believe the system is corrupt and each party is out only to help their power.

[Donkslayer]

"But it is OK for the bureau to throw in a last-second intrusive question designed specifically to frighten people."

Um...

This question appears on things like job applications, loan/credit applications, passport applications, etc...so why is it "intrusive" and "scary" if we're trying to count the # of US citizens so we can decide things like representation and funding?

[Daniel Cubias - Huffpost Blogger]

Again, we're not counting the number of citizens. We're counting the number of people living in the United States, regardless of their status.

[FloresdelaHoz]

There are 51 million Hispanic Americans in this country. They will participate in the census. However, I more than understand why the six million undocumented workers are cautious in cooperating with a government that allows Dobbs to incite violence and hatred towards Hispanics.

At the end of the day the emerging Hispanic American behemoth will decide who gets the keys to the White House for the next generation until the American melting pots works its magic.

Comprehensive immigration reform can only be accomplished with help form the Bush family wing of the GOP. Since that wing is very small, Hispanic Americans will continue pounding the GOP with massive body blows until the Bush wing of the party is back in power.

[MadHeart]

It should be pretty obvious why Hispanics are reluctant to be counted--there are millions here in the US illegally. Politics does indeed make strange bedfellows.

[Luckynodebt]

Politicians get so wrapped up in ....well politics, that they also have forgotten other uses of the census. Social and health program development use these once every 10 years statistics to bring services to the underserved populations. If Hispanic groups suggest boycotting, areas with significant Hispanic populations will be underrepresented for targeted programs like education and healthcare.

[billstewart]

I don't mind telling the government how many people live in my dwelling. I really object when the government wants to know what race we are, because racism is wrong and they've got no business making policies about race, or when the government wants lots of detail about what ethnic groups we are, because there are lots of negative things it can do with that information and few positive things. Here in California, the Army used census data to round up Japanese-Americans and haul them off to concentration camps during the war, and the Feds hauled in my Pakistani coworkers during the Bush Administration anti-Arab-terrorist scare, and while they're constantly telling us that Census information can never be revealed for 75 years, that only applies until they change the laws or evade them. If Obama can't get the economy fixed in time for the next election and the Republican get elected again, do you think we can trust them?

Furthermore, they'll allow information to be used at the "census tract" level, which is typically a couple of blocks. If you're European, they don't care; if you're Latino, they want lots of invasive details about where you're from. The only way to keep people from abusing information is not to give it to them.

[ringo3khan]

Excuse me but, "object when the government wants to know what race we are, because racism is wrong", is a drastic misstatement about the nature of the census project. Actually, life in the U.S. is all about race and parsing benefits on the basis of race; taking from the undeserving who've benefited from unearned, undeserved priviledge rooted in institutionalized racism and racist attitudes, i.e., European-Americans, otherwise known as "whites" and giving to the deserving "victim" classes identified as such on the basis of their racial classification. Thus the "process" doesn't have anything to do with "racism"; "racism" is being a white "European-American" citizen residing in the U.S. The process is simply one of identifying the deserving and the undeserving and can't be labeled a "racist" process because it's purpose is to benefit the deserving. This shouldn't be all that dificult to understand unless of course, I suppose, one is the product of the challenged educational system extant in fly-over country.

[hershala]

I personally thing all the right wing "True Conservatives" should boycott the cencus. Heck they should boycott it twice. They so hate government that I would think they would sneer at having representation in the "Hated government". I am encouraging them to lose seats in the congress. Since they want fewer loons in government it looks like we may actually be able to get something done.

As for Latinos not wanting represntation why? Makes no sense to me.

[Artisan53]

How do you say teabagger in Spanish?

[ThirdSection]

I think, but don't quote me on this, that the word you're looking for is "chupavergas."

[KenMoore]

This isn't all that difficult. The constitution calls for a census every 10 years for apportionment of representatives, etc. So that's it, just count the people and be done with it. No other questions, no extraneous issues. Just a census.

[kevinabt]

But then the government would miss out on an chance to take all kinds of other information about the people of this country that they were never authorized to take. It should be obvious that following the law is not a compromise they are willing to make.

[ThirdSection]

The nice thing about census boycotts is that the tinfoil hat crowd partaking in them tend to lose representation in the government. It's a win-win, really. We don't want them making our laws, and they don't like government.

[blizb]

Exactly, and they lose.

I think the real reason they don't want to know the true census this time is the number of ethnic groups may actually have risen to a level they don't want to admit.

That means they would have to campaign and include groups their racist agenda won't support.

[ThirdSection]

Yes, and when the racists opt out of being counted, those they are being racist against get higher percentages!