People talking about disobeying census

[buck]

I have heard people saying they are going to refuse to cooperate with the Census because they feel that the government and "ACORN" is going to use the information against them somehow

http://www.aipnews.com/talk/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=4265&posts=3

It's hard to believe that people buy into this stuff, the sad thing is that this article will probably make its way into the Saplupa Herald or the Glenpool Post sometime soon

[Conan71]

Re-file this under Tinfoil Hat Special...it fits

[brianh]

I recently got a census, brought it up to work and subsequently lost it. Is there a fine for that?

[cannon_fodder]

Yes.  Refusal to fill out the census form is a punishable offense.  One that I too committed (didn't lose it, could probably find it.  Started filling it out, got bored, set it aside, now kinda sorta lost).

However, I actually wrote a legal memo on this issue.  A client didn't want to fill it out and wondered if he could actually get the punishment accorded in the notice.  It was sent to the brilliant young legal mind in the basement.

The answer is yes, BUT, the agency has never actually levied the punishment. So rest easy. 

However, the info is used for statistical analysis, not individual data.  It has the potential to help in serious ways.  Though, the fears of data leaks are certainly legit.

[buck]

I lived in New Mexico in 2000 and they started advertising about the census a year or so in advance. The Native American groups in the area felt like they were undercounted in 1990 and funding they received was based in part on their population. It's funny how in that article it talks about the census hiring workers and doing their job eventhough it's not 2010 yet, the whole process takes 2-3 years and it has been done like that no matter who the president has been.

[Gaspar]

Yes.  Refusal to fill out the census form is a punishable offense.  One that I too committed (didn't lose it, could probably find it.  Started filling it out, got bored, set it aside, now kinda sorta lost).

However, I actually wrote a legal memo on this issue.  A client didn't want to fill it out and wondered if he could actually get the punishment accorded in the notice.  It was sent to the brilliant young legal mind in the basement.

The answer is yes, BUT, the agency has never actually levied the punishment. So rest easy. 

However, the info is used for statistical analysis, not individual data.  It has the potential to help in serious ways.  Though, the fears of data leaks are certainly legit.

I heard that this year you won't have to fill out a census form.  ACORN is going to fill one out for you.

[TURobY]

I heard that this year you won't have to fill out a census form.  ACORN is going to fill one out for you.

In Soviet Russia, census form fills out you!

[Conan71]

So, CF, what's the truth on how much of the census form must be filled out?  Other than Michelle Bachman, I've been hearing elsewhere that all that was originally provided for in the Constitution was the number of people in the home (and that's all that you should be required to respond to), yet the census bureau is claiming that's a misinterpretation of the law.

[PepePeru]

i guess the author of this article doesn't care that the census announced this plan to get coords. of every residence in the US, in 2006 or so.



But I guess Obama & ACORN had something to do with it, then.

That article is terrific satire. 

[cannon_fodder]

Conan:

According to the Federal Government you have to fill out the entire census form sent to you or you MAY be punished.  But when I researched it I was unable to find an instance in which anyone was punished and the agency admitted that they were not aware of one either.  But the official stance is you are required by law to provide the information.

Also, the constitution mandates what the government can and can not do.  It doesn't dictate what citizens must do.  Thus, it does not dictate that you cooperate with the census.  It merely states that "the actual Enumeration shall be made within three years after the first meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent term of ten years, in such manner as they shall by law direct." 

Then the law dictates that you must comply.  But the Constitution doesn't.  It grants rights to citizens and power to government, it doesn't dictate behavior of citizens.  At least, in theory.

[Wilbur]

I heard that this year you won't have to fill out a census form.  ACORN is going to fill one out for you.

This is the problem most folks will have....  ACORN's involvement.  They are being criminally charged in several states for voter fraud, so, please, let them help with the census.

Who should be wearing the tin foil?

[buck]

Well sure as crap I live in Sapulpa and picked up todays Herald and sure enough there was an editorial "ACORN and the Census" or something like that, it was from a right-wing website, that paper never has an original thought, they just take stuff they read on the web and rehash it for the Opinion pages or even try to pass it off as "news". My wife said her dad refused to answer questions on the Census one year because he didn't feel that they should know what time he got home and also that his wife didn't work. That was in 1990.

[Gaspar]

Census, what a wonderful political football. 

Used to be necessary to count people, back before linked databases.

Now it is just a government sponsored market research program and the most expensive market research in existence.

It costs between $16 to $25 to count each person.

There's really nothing else I can say.

[waterboy]

Yeah, don't respond. Then we can be undercounted and receive even less of our taxes back. Maybe even lose some representation! Good plan. That'll show 'em.

Interesting symbols. Acorn. Nuts. Oklahoma.

[tim huntzinger]

If ANYONE comes knocking at the door with even a patina of State power, the serf should immediately submit and do exactly what the State's tool tells that serf to do.  The serf should not question, hesitate, complain, or obstruct the tool's mission.  If that means quartering troops, submitting to searches, answering any and all questions, or just forking over whatever property that tool demands, the serf should OBEY orders and SHUT UP.