Politicization Of US Census
- Thread starter Stu
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Any country has a right to ask questions of the people living within its borders. A question is an unobtrusive way of gaining information. Asking a question by itself is benign.
Also, while it is in the interest of the country that questions are answered truthfully, I dont believe there is any law that requires it.
Also, while it is in the interest of the country that questions are answered truthfully, I dont believe there is any law that requires it.
I keep going back to the origins of the country, when it was assumed that if you were here you either were a citizen or would be. The idea of representative government was that everyone was being represented, whether they were voters or not. Remember, back then the only requirement to vote was not being a woman or a non white looking person. The purpose of the census was figuring out the size of the House of Representatives
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The question used to be on the census. The question we now have to ask ourselves: was it removed for good reason?
I think the census itself is benign, but the question is will that data be used to target illegal immigrants for incarceration or deportation? In the present political climate I don’t think illegal immigrants will be inclined to participate or to do so truthfully which could skew whatever data is collected from them if any. Even skipping the question could be telling. The severity of the situation will differ between those who are pro or anti illegal immigrant, and it will also depend upon how the information is intended to be used.
It was on there off and on, I did read an Axios article on that last week, interestingly the media coverage on the consistency of the asking is kinda sparse. Just about everything I was hearing stressed that money spent by congress and the apportionment of US house of reps was based on total population. But I just heard about a provision in the voting rights act of 1965 that relies on populations of actual voters
For people like me who didn't know what census info is used for, here's the rub from wikipedia.
The principal purpose of the census is to divide the house seats by population. In addition, collected data are used in aggregate for statistical purposes.[27] Replies are obtained from individuals and establishments only to enable the compilation of such general statistics. The confidentiality of these replies is very important. By law, no one—neither the census takers nor any other Census Bureau employee—is permitted to reveal identifiable information about any person, household, or business. Without such protections, those living without documentation in the United States would be deterred from submitting census data.
By law (Pub.L. 95–416, 92 Stat. 915, enacted October 5, 1978), individual census records are sealed for 72 years,[28] a number chosen in 1952[29] as slightly higher than the average female life expectancy, 71.6.[30] The individual census data most recently released to the public is the 1940 census, released on April 2, 2012. Aggregate census data are released when available.
The principal purpose of the census is to divide the house seats by population. In addition, collected data are used in aggregate for statistical purposes.[27] Replies are obtained from individuals and establishments only to enable the compilation of such general statistics. The confidentiality of these replies is very important. By law, no one—neither the census takers nor any other Census Bureau employee—is permitted to reveal identifiable information about any person, household, or business. Without such protections, those living without documentation in the United States would be deterred from submitting census data.
By law (Pub.L. 95–416, 92 Stat. 915, enacted October 5, 1978), individual census records are sealed for 72 years,[28] a number chosen in 1952[29] as slightly higher than the average female life expectancy, 71.6.[30] The individual census data most recently released to the public is the 1940 census, released on April 2, 2012. Aggregate census data are released when available.
I do think that the addition of the citizenship question, without the usual testing that the census bureau does, seems like trolling by the Administration. The Census folks seem to be serious statisticians and don't like to do things on a whim. There has also been a movement nationally to base apportionment of the US house on eligible voters rather than total population. That said, I am inclined to think that the citizenship question will probably not depress the count significantly.