Senseless Census? It's Only Ten Little Questions
Last week I received a letter in the mail telling me I would soon be receiving a U.S. Census to fill out. The government kindly spent money on printing, envelope and stamp to give me a heads up. A few days later my census papers came in the mail. After two days, before I even had a chance to open my census envelope, I received a postcard in my mailbox. The government sent me this card to let me know that I should have received my census already and if I had, to disregard this postcard and please remember to fill out the census and return it. If I hadn’t already received my census, the postcard warned me that I should soon. It’s a good thing they sent this to me because otherwise my census papers may have sat on my table for another few days. It would be a shame if I didn’t send this back within 24-hours of receiving it.
In reality, I don’t have a problem with the census. I am just lazy. My mother, on the other hand, said she would not fill out her forms. Instead, she is going to make the census workers come to her door. She said that for the amount of money they are paying them, they should have to work for it. This bitterness could come from the fact she applied for a position with the census and did not get hired. While my mother wants the taxpayers to get the most from the money they are contributing to pay for the census, she doesn’t have a problem actually giving her information.
I don’t understand the animosity by some, mainly staunch conservatives, toward the census. Several opponents to the Obama administration are urging the public to answer only one of the 10 questions included on the census — the number of people in their household. It’s not like the other nine questions are asking people to reveal their foot fetishes or whether they sleep in the nude. The census asks questions about your sex (not how much or what kind), ethnicity, household size and whether or not you own a home. This seems pretty standard to me. Maybe I am being too laid back about the whole thing, but hasn’t the census been around since 1790? And correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t some of the conservatives who are so upset over the census the same ones that rely on it to fill out their family trees when doing their genealogy? Yes Glenn Beck, I am talking about you.
Whether you feel the country is devising an evil plan to take away your freedoms, or you want to get your taxpayer’s money worth and make the clipboard toting census workers come to your door, I urge you to answer the questions. For goodness sake, the world will not end in the two minutes it takes to fill it out. In fact, the information might be helpful in the next 10 years. If that’s not enough to convince you, the government is kind enough to save you 44 cents and give you a postage-paid envelope to return it in. I’m a sucker for free postage.
