maven&meddler

Fear and paranoia are not in short supply among the so-called conservatives that would have us believe that the decennial census amounts to unwarranted intrusion by the government in our private affairs.

Check out this worried citizen/patriot:

See his white hair? He’s really 29 years old, but this is what undue worry about nothing gets you.

The New York Times had this to say, in an editorial:

March 8, 2010

Editorial

On the Importance of Being Counted

In mid-March, the Census Bureau will mail census forms to the nation’s 134 million households. With 10 questions, the form is one of the shortest in the history of the decennial count, dating back to 1790. But will people fill it out and mail it back? They should.

As civic duties go, filling out the 2010 census will certainly be less demanding than, say, filing a tax return or serving on a jury. Yet, the census has detractors — including several vocal conservative pundits and some Republican lawmakers who depict it as an unwarranted government intrusion. That is a distortion of its history, intent and use.

When the founding fathers established the census in the Constitution, their revolutionary aim was to ensure that the people have a fair voice in their government, by counting everyone and using the results to determine the number of representatives from each state.

The census is also used to allocate federal aid to the states and to draw electoral districts. An accurate count makes sure that federal dollars are distributed fairly and that electoral boundaries reflect the population. If the census is skewed, so are those government functions.

Another baseless criticism of the census is that it is unconstitutional to ask anything beyond the number of people living in a residence. Numerous federal and Supreme Court cases have upheld the constitutionality of collecting additional information in the census, provided it is relevant and necessary to good government.

To that end, questions about age, gender, race, Hispanic ethnicity and homeownership are used to help execute and monitor laws and programs that are targeted to specific groups. That is not to downplay legitimate debate fueled by questions that go beyond who is living where. Counting people by race and ethnicity, for example, is useful for enforcing civil rights laws, like the Voting Rights Act. But it also provokes argument about identity and equality in a diverse society.

The most important thing to know is that, fundamentally, the census is about building and rebuilding a representative democracy where divisive issues can be constructively debated. When your census form arrives, fill it out and send it back. Your country will thank you.

But aside from this, there are other, equally valid reasons that people might want to participate in the census.

If you enjoy doing geneology, then thank the census for a lot of the information on great-great grandpa. Had the census been as anonymous as the worried guy above, you’d have found out absolutely nothing about your family tree.

And, if you are developing a business model based on poplation/consumer trends, thank the boatloads of statistical data which has been developed over the years - by the census. The census is essential for business, academia, policy and planning purposes.

Nevada - seriously stressed by the economic turbulence of the times could actually find itself coming out better with a census. We might even get another representative. Whoa, that would be bad? Or good? Depending on the demographic makeup of the population growth in Nevada, we might even get more funding for silly things like education and social services. Whoa, another blow to privacy!

Furthermore, Democrats wanted to use a statistical sampling method some years back to account for all the persons who might be missed - and not have to go door to door to count every last soul. Republicans on the other hand, seeing that they might come up short under that methodology, said “oh, wait a minute” and insisted on the door to door program.

So, if that program worries you, thank the GOP.

The census merely tells us more about who we are and were we might be going.

It’s unfortunate that there are folks so unreasonable afraid of their own shadow that they can’t even tolerate a decennial census taker.

For my part, the census taker who comes to might house won’t be met with paranoia, but more likely an offer of a cuppa joe and some chewin the fat.

But, I’m just that kind of friendly person.