Constitution
Census in 2012?
Has Census time rolled around again? Your calendar hasn’t changed. But Congress just rolled out another Census—in 2012. And this Census has nothing to do with the reason the Constitution gives for it.
The Census in the Constitution
The Constitution tells us to cooperate with the Census Bureau. The reference in our Constitution to the Census appears in Article 1, Section 2.
The actual Enumeration (the Census) 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. (sic)
According to the Constitution, the purpose of the Census is to apportion electoral votes and congressional seats, which is no more than one for every 30,000. Twenty-two Censuses have taken place since then-Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson took the first Census on August 2, 1790. Today The Bureau of the Census handles this task under Title 13 U.S.C. § 11. Congress has expanded its reach to include surveys and statistical models, like the American Community Survey. But the Constitution does not provide for the American Community Survey, although Congress did pass that afterward. Since it is in direct conflict with the Constitutional requirement, shouldn’t it have needed a Constitutional Amendment? I challenge you to review all 27 Amendments of the Constitution and tell me where anything remotely resembling an Amendment about the census exists.
An unconstitutional Census?
The last census in accordance with the terms of our Constitution was taken in 2010, which very simply means the next should be scheduled for 2020. As is the case in government today “should” doesn’t mean “will”. In 2012, two years after the census of 2010, another census will be mailed to everyone in the good old USA called the American Community Survey. Apparently, under Title 13, which governs how the information should be gathered, there is latitude to twist the original intentions of our founders. And that our lawmakers have twisted away, shouldn’t surprise us.
Once again, I have to ask – what didn’t they understand in Article 1, Section 2 that specifically says that the census should be taken every ten years? And I also have to ask that if their understanding of written text is so impaired, what are they doing in the halls of Congress? They are clearly unqualified – regarding both their understanding of the written word and their understanding of the Constitution. These two factors make them unfit to represent us in government – or frankly, anywhere else.
Let me go a step further, since they have taken an oath to uphold and preserve our Constitution, which oath they have violated, each and every one of them should be impeached immediately. Of course the wimps now holding office lack the intestinal fortitude to take such action; therefore, We the People need to help them. This November let’s do a little impeaching of our own at the polls. Now I’m normally a diplomatic person, but diplomacy seems to be slipping away from me these days, so let me put it clearly – albeit undiplomatically – Throw all the bums out of our house! They may lack a good deal of intestinal fortitude to do what’s constitutionally ethical, but let’s show them that there’s a great abundance of guts left in the American people. Again – throw all the bums out!
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I have to ask this, with no sarcasm at all.
This is a survey, not a replacement census, and from what I can see it’s not meant to replace to census (which is used to allocate Congressional representation), but to gather overlapping and different data for other purposes. The survey is approved and funded by Congress as a vehicle for executing government functions based on demographics more accurately.
If you feel it’s wasteful spending that’s one thing, but how is this a Constitutional crisis?
Because it asks, on pain of a fine for refusal to answer, questions that are none of the government’s Constitutional business. As such it violates the Fourth Amendment. For when you demand information of a person, you seize it. And when you have no warrant for asking, you now seize it unreasonably.
“For when you demand information of a person, you seize it. And when you have no warrant for asking, you now seize it unreasonably.”
Except when your name is Joe Arpaio!
The only word you have against Joe Arpaio are the words of his political ideological opponents.
Honestly, have you read the DOJ report against Arpaio?
Are you saying that the DOJ fabricated interviews and quotes with Arpaio and his thugs?
Yes.
This is the same DOJ that ran a vast throw-down operation that they called “Fast and Furious.” And let the New Black Panther Party skate on voter-intimidation charges in Philadelphia and elsewhere.
Yes you read the report or yes they fabricated the quotes and reports?
This is the Joe Arpaio who who has already been found guilty of violating constitutional rights. This is the Joe Arpaio who has already paid out tens of millions in settlements for his transgressions.
I don’t trust anything out of the Eric Holder Department of Justice. Not when I consider their record.
Is there a sample of the survey available? That would certainly help with answering the obvious question. Yet….beside this point…I agree: Throw The Bums Out!!!
I read through the government website for this survey, and on general principle, I’m in agreement with Terry and RoseAnn on this one. Compliance is in fact mandatory, and there’s a maximum $100 penalty for non-compliance.
So while counting people properly is essential to making sure that government representation by population is accurate, this is crossing a line. There’s a constitutional reason for enforcing the main census every decade, but extending that concept to let the government demand my demographic data whenever it wants under threat of penalty is a violation of my privacy.
I’m sure that this data helps support many legitimate government activities that require accurate information, but it has to be provided without coercion or it’s wrong.