Census 2010—Nosey Neighbors

          Instead of mailing the forms to homes here in rural Alaska, the census bureau has hired people to canvas the villages.  A student of mine, a high school senior, came by yesterday and announced that he was working for the census and was there to count me.  I hope I didn’t give him too hard of a time, but I refused to answer some of his questions.

          Under our constitution, the government has the power to conduct the census.  Article I, Section 2 of the constitution reads: “The actual Enumeration 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.”  The original intent of this census was to apportion the number of seats in the House of Representatives, but look at the information the government wants to know about us even on the short ten question form I was asked to fill out.  I’ve edited the questions for brevity, but otherwise they remain unchanged. 

1. How many people were living or staying in this home on April 1, 2010?
2. Were there any additional people staying here April 1, 2010
3. Is this home owned, rented or occupied without payment of rent?
4. What is your telephone number?
5. Please provide information for each person living here.  Print their names.
6. What is the sex of each person living in this house?
7. What is age and birth date of each person living in this house?
8. Are you of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin?
9. What is your race?
10. Do you sometimes live or stay somewhere else?

          Questions 1, 2 and 10 have some root in the constitutional mandate, but all other questions are simply an invasion of our privacy.  Look down the questions.  Would you provide all that information to a stranger?  Do you trust the government to protect the information?  If identity thieves steal it, will the government pay to restore your credit?  Do you really want the government collecting racial information?  Do you know what the government is going to do with the information they collect about you?  For me, the answer to all of those questions is no.

            One in every six Americans will be required to fill out the much longer American Community Survey during the next ten years.  That egregious invasion of privacy asks questions such as how many times have you been married, How much do you pay for electricity, Does your home have hot and cold running water, a flush toilet, a bathtub or shower, a sink with a faucet, a refrigerator, a stove? 

            In theory, the government is supposed to be working for the people.  My boss, the principal of the school where I work, doesn’t know the answer to most of those questions.  Why would I give that information to some nosey person who supposedly works for me? 

           So to the young man who came knocking on my door yesterday, you’re a good student and I wish you the very best now and after you graduate, but the people you’re going to give the information to, well, Thomas Jefferson once said, “Whensoever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force.”  They have no more right to ask then a nosey neighbor.