Census

Our census form arrived yesterday.  Haven't yet decided exactly how I'm going to fill it out.

A few things I do know....

The Federal government doesn't need my phone number.  It doesn't need our names.

It says all of the information will be used for statistical purposes only.  You know, how many people have the first name of "Phil".  How many people have phone numbers starting with "573"?  

I could see perhaps a use for gender and age.  Maybe even race.  But of course, why, if gender, race, and age aren't supposed to matter?

Well, because, as the commercials say, it's all about "getting our 'fair share'".  And they base it partially on age and race, and who knows?  Maybe gender.   The government decides what our "fair share" is.  Already.   That's not America.  That's some social democracy, on the road to communism, as Marx envisioned.  

"Oh no it's not.  You're just paranoid!"   Yeah, I used to say that ... until one day I woke up and found a bunch of 1960's marxists and the radical organizations they started in charge of much of the government-run and government-protected social institutions in the country, and sitting in key chairs in and around the White House.  Kinda made me take a second look.

And oh, it will be used for gerrymandering.  Trust me.  "Fair Share".  And our "fair share" of the votes, thank you.

See, here's the deal.  Up until a few weeks ago, I thought if Congress passed a bill, the same bill had to pass both chambers of Congress, and if one party thought it was important enough to attempt to block, they could attempt a filibuster unless 60% of the Senate voted to end debate.  That's what I thought.

Now I come to find out that there's this fine print that's been added over the years that says, hey, we can just add a bill to one that's already passed and have a vote on some amendments to that bill and the normal rules don't apply.

Now when they added that fine print, I'm sure anybody who objected based on possible future abuse of the rule were dismissed, "that's ridiculous!  It's only meant for these little changes here and there.  Nobody would ever consider using it that way."

And today I find out that they don't even have to do that, they can just vote on approving some amendments to a bill the House has never voted on and "deem" that the bill they're amending has passed.  On top of that, since the bill they just passed was based on one that already passed the other chamber, they can send it straight to the President to sign (even though ... hello, the Senate never voted on the amendments, so then how has that bill passed both chambers again?)  Democrats say the electorate doesn't care about procedure, and they should just do it.  Pass the bill, so we can see what's in it.

Are we insane???

We listen to this stuff and shrug?

God I hope not.

But what does any of this have to do with the Census?

The information you give will only be used for statistical purposes.  "What, you crazy paranoid people!  Nobody would ever use it for anything else.  That's ridiculous!"

Yeah, never happens.  And income tax will only ever be on the top 1%, Social Security tax will never exceed 3%, and your social security number will never, ever be used for personal identification.