http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/political-media/anti-census-campaign-is-epic-fail/Anti-Census Campaign Is Epic FAIL
Greg Sargent
Don’t look now, but the anti-census campaign being pushed by some figures on the right is an epic failure:
A spokesperson for the U.S. Census bureau tells me that the number of census forms that have been returned incomplete is less than one percent.Figures as diverse as Glenn Beck and GOP Reps Paul Broun and Michele Bachmann have all declared that they will only fill out the U.S. Census question asking how many people live in their households, and will boycott other questions. Their argument: Answering that one question is the only thing the U.S. Constitution requires, and the other questions constitute an unacceptable, Big Brother-style encroachment on our liberties and privacy.
Fortunately, no one is listening to them.
Census Bureau spokesperson Eun Kim tells me that just under 80 million census forms have been returned thus far. Of these, roughly 600,000 have been returned incomplete, Kim says. And a significant chunk of these could be errors, as opposed to the handiwork of people following the lead of Beck and Bachmann. At any rate, that’s less than one percent.
By the way, to reiterate, the claim that the U.S. Constitution only mandates that people answer that one question is delusional. Here’s the relevant chunk, from Article 1, Section 2:
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.
As you can see, the Constitution mandates that people fill out the Census along the lines dictated by Congress — “in such manner as they shall by law direct.” So those GOP Reps who are claiming that they are not required to fill out the full census, as dicated by law, are in effect saying that the lawmaking body they belong to is illegitimate.