Thread: A headsup on the 2010 census that I could have done without.

The pre-census letter has nothing (or very little) to do with the safety of federal employees. It costs $.42 for each postage paid envelope that is returned by people doing what THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO DO (fill out the census). It costs $57 to send someone to the household to follow up with any noncompliant citizens. This is an attempt to emphasize the fact that it's something that is going to get done, and it needs to be done with the cooperation of the citizenry.

That pre-census letter, being unaware of what a previous census might've been like, made me think they would ask questions and based on the outcome some budgetting choices would be made for the different facilities.

The fact that they're interested in genders, ages and races makes me think this has more to do with racial, sexual and age profiling than anything else. I really wonder what race has to do with this. Besides just filling out the statistics here...

Originally Posted by Hillie

That pre-census letter, being unaware of what a previous census might've been like, made me think they would ask questions and based on the outcome some budgetting choices would be made for the different facilities.

The fact that they're interested in genders, ages and races makes me think this has more to do with racial, sexual and age profiling than anything else. I really wonder what race has to do with this. Besides just filling out the statistics here...

Well, as a melting pot of a society, one of the government's goals (hopefully) will be to try to determine if any segment of the society (determined by race, religion, or gender) are being "left behind". The socio-economic data that the census will provide could be very valuable in determining this type of information.

Hah, jimmy - I got that letter and laughed with my wife. Because it didnt say someone will knock on your door, just that a packet will arrive. Maybe it's just "stimulus" to the flailing USPS (see that story last week? they're going to cut saturday delivery and cost 10,000 post offices).

Originally Posted by richmondesi

Well, as a melting pot of a society, one of the government's goals (hopefully) will be to try to determine if any segment of the society (determined by race, religion, or gender) are being "left behind". The socio-economic data that the census will provide could be very valuable in determining this type of information.

I wonder how it is concluded that I am or am not "left behind". Perhaps I lost some pages with questions about household income and expenses, debts and assets, transportation, work, etcetera. If you want to count people, fine, but why not register people with a city then? It'd give you an on-the-fly overview of migration and what not. And why register race? I hope you're not implying a neighbourhood is 'left behind' if it has a large quantity of people from a certain racial background.

For a country that's so sensitive on the racial issues I find it at least interesting that the government wants to map everybody's race. Maybe I'm just rambling on too much.

Originally Posted by Hillie

I wonder how it is concluded that I am or am not "left behind". Perhaps I lost some pages with questions about household income and expenses, debts and assets, transportation, work, etcetera. If you want to count people, fine, but why not register people with a city then? It'd give you an on-the-fly overview of migration and what not. And why register race? I hope you're not implying a neighbourhood is 'left behind' if it has a large quantity of people from a certain racial background.

For a country that's so sensitive on the racial issues I find it at least interesting that the government wants to map everybody's race. Maybe I'm just rambling on too much.

Of course not. Such economic information is readily available according to geographical and racial considerations. I was merely talking about trends.

If you don't think race should be tracked, we disagree. There's no malevolent motive for understanding the racial makeup of our citizenry. The fact is that we could do a better job as a society of bringing all races up and providing opportunity.

I don't agree nor disagree. I don't see a need for it so far, but convincing argumentation is very much welcomed!

Originally Posted by Hillie

For a country that's so sensitive on the racial issues I find it at least interesting that the government wants to map everybody's race. Maybe I'm just rambling on too much.

You found out their secret plan, they want to find every location that has a lot of whites/blacks/mexicans/asians/europeans/etc (take your pick) and nuke it. /sarcasm

There are a lot of paranoid people here. Censuses have been going on for over 100 years, they are used for national planning and general statistics. They even introduce random errors.

I received my census yesterday (Tuesday), it's in the mail today. I answered one of the ten questions. Question #1, how many people were living or staying in this house, apartment or mobile home on April 1, 2010???(wasn't sure if I could/should answer that in March, lol) All the rest I left blank. They don't need my name or phone number or age. I also asked for my Miranda warning. I have the right to remain silent. If everyone does this, what are they gonna do? Fine 5 or 10 million people? What consequence do you think the government would have to face then? Also, historically, the government has never gone after anyone for not filling or complying with a census. I know that some of you here don't see any harm in the questions in the census, and I don't really do either. But I do think that Our government should know better than to be stepping outside of what is required by Our Constitution. By complying with them you are just giving them the green light to continue believing that the "people" are ignorant of the law. I refuse to be herded.

Dennis:

Please keep us posted on this; I'm interested to find out whether or not you get a census taker knocking as the next step, etc.

I have a friend who's been a census taker in the past. I should ask him what they're trained to do if someone refuses to give info. The poor guy just got back from the hospital yesterday for surgery for brain cancer.

Chris L

Originally Posted by denmason

I received my census yesterday (Tuesday), it's in the mail today. I answered one of the ten questions. Question #1, how many people were living or staying in this house, apartment or mobile home on April 1, 2010???(wasn't sure if I could/should answer that in March, lol) All the rest I left blank. They don't need my name or phone number or age. I also asked for my Miranda warning. I have the right to remain silent. If everyone does this, what are they gonna do? Fine 5 or 10 million people? What consequence do you think the government would have to face then? Also, historically, the government has never gone after anyone for not filling or complying with a census. I know that some of you here don't see any harm in the questions in the census, and I don't really do either. But I do think that Our government should know better than to be stepping outside of what is required by Our Constitution. By complying with them you are just giving them the green light to continue believing that the "people" are ignorant of the law. I refuse to be herded.