March 30, 2010

The Houston Chronicle has an interesting story on the Census in Texas. Texas could get four new congressional districts, four new electoral college votes, and millions of dollars in federal aid...but that's dependent on Texans actually filling out their census forms. As of Friday, only 27% of Texas households had filled out and returned their census forms -- which is well below the national average of 34%.

African-Americans and Hispanics have historically been undercounted groups when it comes to the Census. However, Texas is facing a growing problem of anti-government conservatives who refuse to fill out the Census as a form of protest against "Big Brother". A Republican Texas State Representative said, "There's a general distrust of the federal government at every level, starting with Congress and the president, all the way down to executive branch agencies." Another Republican representative said, "People are concerned about the apparent intrusive nature of the census. People are very concerned that the government is going too far."

There's also a growing enthusiasm for not filling out the Census because of popular conservative and libertarian Republicans decrying the Census -- like Michelle Bachman (R-MN) and Ron Paul (Republican Texas State Representative). Michelle Bachman (incorrectly) said last year that the information reported by Americans on their census forms could be used by the government to commit terrible deeds -- such as imprisoning people in internment camps [Sensational much?]. She has urged people to not fill out the Census or to not answer all the questions [which could cost the taxpayers millions because then a census taker has to go out to the house and get the information in person. Plus, if there's an undercount in Minnesota because of people following Michelle's lead, she could potentially lose her seat due to reapportionment]. While Ron Paul said, "The invasive nature of the current census raises serious questions about how and why government will use the collected information. " [The invasive nature of the current census? The Census has pretty much asked the same questions for centuries, if anything it was more 'invasive' in the past when there were more questions]. Earlier this month, Ron Paul voted against a congressional resolution that would ask Americans to participate in the Census.

The Pew Research Center has found that Democrats are more likely than other Americans to view the Census as "very important" to the country (76% compared with 61% of Republicans and 61% of Independents). In Texas, some of the counties with the lowest Census return rates are among the state's most Republican. For example, King County near Lubbock has a return rate of 5%.

The costs to the state of Texas could be immense if there's an undercount. Texas stands to gain four new House seats, but they can only get those seats -- and the influence that comes with those seats -- if enough Texans participate. "Any conservative revolt would only reduce the representation in conservative areas of the state, such as rural Texas and the outer ring suburbs surrounding its largest cities." Moreso, a director of the non-partisan group Texas Kids Count said that for every Texan that is not counted, the state will lose an estimated $12,000 over the next decade in federal funding for things like transportation, agriculture, health, education, and housing. She said that Texas could lose "hundreds of millions of dollars in lost opportunities" due to uncounted residents. She also said that these anti-government groups that are advocating not filling out the Census "think they are hurting the government. They are really hurting themselves and their communities." Oh snap. (Full Story)

I don't get these people that don't want to fill out their census because they believe the government wants this information to control them or watch over them or I don't know what. If you honestly thought the government was out to spy on you always and to control your mind, don't you think they're powerful enough to get your information from sources other than the census that you refused to fill out? But there have always been these crazy conspiracy people that have refused to fill out the Census. That's nothing new. What I'm concerned about is that this anti-Census group is growing larger this year (and includes more "mainstream" people) because of the increased popularity of the anti-government sentiment (and more specifically anti-Obama-government sentiment). You have all these Tea Party protests; and Glenn Beck-and-the-like followers; and people decrying a government takeover, and socialism, and fascism, and communism, and other -isms they don't seem to fully understand. You have people blindly angry at Obama, and angry about health care reform, and angry about taxes, and angry about the government providing services that they enjoy oh so much. And, sadly, the anger these people have is misplaced, and they're being misled, and they're being taken advantage of. And now they're being convinced that the Census is the next battle on the front, and that this is another way to stick it to the government. This is just another thing that the Glenn Becks and the Ron Pauls and different Republican congresspeople are using to rally their people around. The intense rhetoric surrounding health care lost a little bit of steam because the bill passed Congress and has been signed into law. The Census is the new thing to get worked up about. It is sad when something so basic and necessary as the Census becomes partisan. And it's terribly sad when people think they're following their best interests (and sticking it to the government) when they don't fill out the Census. But they're only hurting themselves. Their state could lose a seat in Congress, and then these people complain about not having representation. And their state could lose federal funding for community development, and then these people complain about the lack of services. It's a sad irony that they don't like the idea of big government and government-run or -sponsored programs, so they don't fill out the Census to protest the government; and then their community doesn't receive enough funding to fix bridges, and build parks, and start job programs and after-school programs; and then they will complain that the government isn't doing enough to help average Americans.