All the hullabaloo about the census is getting ridiculous. I can’t believe there is anyone who doesn’t want to fill out the form, because “OMG! I don’t want the government to know anything about me!” Last time there was a census, we got the long form. It does ask a bunch of weird questions, but I certainly don’t care if someone finds out how many bathrooms I have. This time, the form is super short, and the simple fact is there was only one piece of data they asked for that the government doesn’t already have, not to mention the world, seeing as it is all information available in public documents.
The government knows our names. They know our ages and the date of our births. They know what races we are. They know we are married. They even know where we live. In fact, the government already knows a ton more data about us than what that short little form asks for. Our income tax forms provide them with more data on a yearly basis than the census form does every ten years. Resisting answering these simple questions just seems a little ridiculous.
So send in your forms. Or don’t. Quite frankly, it won’t bother me at all if silly people have less representation in the government and fewer government services. More for people in my neighborhood who could really use it.
It’s bizarre that even normally rational people get overly sensitive about completely nonsensitive data at census time.
One reason the Republicans are so active recently is because control of state legislatures is all important in the immediate aftermath of the Census. Big, growing states almost always get reapportioned, and the local party in power gets to do the gerrymandering. Since Republicans preponderate in the southern tier, California notwithstanding, there will be big corporate money flooding in to buy state reps and senators in order to rearrange economic and ethnic areas so as to neutralize Democratic power. That’s the real deal, not the nonsense of those radio spots urging compliance so you don’t miss out on government services and entitlements. As far as those are concerned, we are going to be doing with less regardless who is in power.
As short as the form was this year, it seemed to me that they were trying not to know any more than mandated by the Constitution; really not anything more than was collected a hundred years ago.
Oh yes, the redistricting. We had one three years AFTER the last one done right after a census, because the Republicans had to do something about Austin being one big liberal voice with its own representative. It was big huge stink and made the national news (and a Supreme Court case). Therefore, I ended up in a district that stretches from Austin all the way down to Houston like a freaking snake … and a Republican representative who sucks.
No one has mentioned redistricting again, but I do believe our state constitution says we have to do it after a census. While the Republicans are naturally still the majority party, it’s a little more balanced now, and there is an election in November. Things could change. Ought to be fun, no matter what. Maybe I’ll end up getting to vote for Lloyd Doggett again. I liked having him as a rep. He was accessible and actually listened.
And yes, the form this time really is just about the same info as all the really old census data I used in genealogy research. Hell, people fill out forms with more information than that to get a savings card at the grocery store, but nooooo … can’t tell the government stuff the government really already knows!