The US Census Form - coming to your mailbox!

What would happen if?
You fill out the form completely. Then take a black magic marker and edit out everything but how many people live in the house? Somewhat like they do when you ask them for something using the FOI act? Most things they send are blacked out. Why not do the same to them? You did fill out the form so you complied right?

I found this anyone know if it is accurate or not?

Copy and paste the following letter below into a word document and insert your address only at the bottom and print it out and send it with your census... Show "big brother" they are violating our privacy by asking for names and personal information of each member of your household.

To Whom it May Concern,

Pursuant to Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution, the only information you are empowered to request is the total number of occupants at this address. My “name, sex, age, date of birth, race, ethnicity, telephone number, relationship and housing tenure” have absolutely nothing to do with apportioning direct taxes or determining the number of representatives in the House of Representatives. Therefore, neither Congress nor the Census Bureau have the constitutional authority to make that information request a component of the enumeration outlined in Article I, Section 2, Clause 3. In addition, I cannot be subject to a fine for basing my conduct on the Constitution because that document trumps laws passed by Congress.

Interstate Commerce Commission v. Brimson, 154 U.S. 447, 479 (May 26, 1894)

“Neither branch of the legislative department [House of Representatives or Senate], still less any merely administrative body [such as the Census Bureau], established by congress, possesses, or can be invested with, a general power of making inquiry into the private affairs of the citizen. Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U.S. 168, 190. We said in Boyd v. U.S., 116 U. S. 616, 630, 6 Sup. Ct. 524,―and it cannot be too often repeated,―that the principles that embody the essence of constitutional liberty and security forbid all invasions on the part of government and it’s employees of the sanctity of a man’s home and the privacies of his life.

As said by Mr. Justice Field in Re Pacific Ry. Commission, 32 Fed. 241, 250, ‘of all the rights of the citizen, few are of greater importance or more essential to his peace and happiness than the right of personal security, and that involves, not merely protection of his person from assault, but exemption of his private affairs, books, and papers from inspection and scrutiny of others. Without the enjoyment of this right, all others would lose half their value.’”

Note: This United States Supreme Court case has never been overturned.

Any further questions or attempts to correspond with myself or those that reside in our home, I demand that each person be read their Miranda Rights.

Respectfully,
Residents of (INSERT YOUR ADDRESS HERE)

[edit on 17-3-2010 by Dragonsbreaths]

Why cant the government just be doing this so they know how much funding each area deserves to function properly? Why does there have to be some secret plan that they are not telling us about. The questions aren't invasive and I have yet to see someone who has received the "long form." I for one have no problem filling it out.

Does anyone know what JIC1/JIC2 means? It is found on the last page of census at bottom right. For Official Use Only. What kind of classification system is it?

Originally posted by yuefo
Why are people averse to giving out their date of birth? If you have a social security number, the feds already have it.

Well, there is that.

I love the idea of government-fearing people claiming that they will do things to bring them to the gov't attention.

Originally posted by swimmer10
Why cant the government just be doing this so they know how much funding each area deserves to function properly? Why does there have to be some secret plan that they are not telling us about. The questions aren't invasive and I have yet to see someone who has received the "long form." I for one have no problem filling it out.

There is no "long form" this time.

"Whereas one in six households used to get a census long-form to fill out, in 2010 there will be only short-forms for everyone. This should serve as an encouragement to you. The 2000 Census long-form asked nearly ten times the questions per person as the short-form."

Cue the "Hmmm...wonder why they're only using the short form...OMG their data gathering is complete and they're ready to start building the FEMA Camps!"

Being counted can be good as it helps determine the number of government representatives we should have and helps determine government funding. There are however Two questions I have a Major problem with.

One: Why do they need to ask my name? It serves no statistical purpose and is invasive. Given that the Database is not 100% secure, and given that the Government has misused the database in the past for some very nefarious reasons, I feel that the personal name requirement should be left out. During WWII the Census was used to round up Japanese Americans and put them into concentration camps within the US. That is only one example of it's misuse.

Two: Race. Race is a social construct with no scientific basis in fact. Humans do not have subspecies and there is only one human race, namely Homo Sapiens Sapiens. They should ask about "Ethnic Group" and not race. UNESCO 50 years ago informed governments that they should stop using race and use ethnic group instead. I answered my Census accurately by checking "Other" and filling in Homo Sapiens Sapiens. I find the question to be both ignorant and offensive. I am not a subspecies.

I received the mail-in form last Friday,

i thought it was going to be exhaustingly comprehensive, so i waited to open the letter/form...when i had enough Time

the First thing that grabbed my attention... is they said the required answers would take 10 MINUTES to complete...

i guess that was for the mentally challenged or foreign tongues in the American mixing-pot, i take more time walking to my mail box to pick up this dumbed down questionaire ~ than it took to spell my name, phone # and write '1' in the box.

sheeze, thats' being PC at its finest

[edit on 22-3-2010 by St Udio]

I got mine today and looked over the 10 questions. I have no problem giving most of the info to them.

But I am not giving any Govt group my phone number again. I did that once (to the DMV) and it took me months to get all the auto dealers to stop calling me.

I did this a few weeks ago. 10 questions, big deal.

But, as a lot of people did, I didn't put my cell number down, just the land line.

I posted about my census experience HERE. I don't understand why people are so leery about the Census. It's been happening for MANY years.

Funny thing is, many are the same people who are demanding that Obama release his entire body of personal information, claiming that he MUST be hiding something... My question is, if you're refusing to fill out the census form, what are you hiding?

I wonder if census takers still taste good when you serve them with fava beans and a nice chianti.

I have just checked my mail for the first time in months and I have a few of these census forms. I know that it says it is required to reply on the envelope but I just tossed them out since I consider it trash. Is there even a punishment for not sending this back?