Conservatives must stop demonizing the census

[Joanne98]

The U.S. Constitution requires that the government conduct a census every ten years. Population counts determine federal funding for various programs, as well as the number of Congressional districts allocated to each state, so the public interest in conducting a thorough census is obvious.

The next census will take place in 2010, but some right-wing loudmouths and Republican politicians have unfortunately demonized the effort as an intrusive government plot. Over at Think Progress, Faiz Shakir recaps some of the paranoid chatter from Representative Michele Bachmann (MN-06) and Glenn Beck of Fox News. Shakir also cites radio host Neal Boortz, who told his listeners, "Most of the rest of the information is designed to help the government steal from you in order to pass off your property to the moochers. They're looters."

Not long ago I discussed my worries about the rhetoric of armed resistance coming from the political right, and I've been reflecting on this problem since I heard about census-taker Bill Sparkman's murder. Sparkman was found naked and bound with "fed" written on his chest and his census ID taped to his neck. In rural Kentucky,


Sparkman's gruesome death has ignited a debate over whether it was a byproduct of harsh anti-government rhetoric on talk shows, blogs and protests. Residents of impoverished Clay County say most people harbor no resentment for agents of the federal government, and they're baffled by Sparkman's apparent killing.

Sheriff Kevin Johnson, a native, said most residents feel a measure of gratitude to the federal government.

"We've been a poverty-stricken area pretty much all our lives," he said. "The government's taking care of 70 percent of people here, through Social Security, SSI, food stamps, Medicare and Medicaid."


None of those programs could function without the demographic data the Census Bureau provides.

If conservative politicians and opinion leaders keep stoking fears about the government using census data to steal from or perhaps even round up law-abiding citizens, I am concerned that mentally unstable individuals will commit further acts of violence against census-takers next year. Republicans should condemn the hatemongers and make clear that the census is not only permitted, but required under the Constitution.

http://www.mydd.com/story/2009/9/26/144653/894

[Jeep789]

1. Why aren't they portrayed as anti-american and unpatriotic

which is what they are?

[zbdent]

3. because the media hasn't found a way to tie it to ACORN and Obama ...

[DeSwiss]

2. Republicans......

....have controlled the WH in each and every census going back to Nixon in 1970, Reagan in 1980, George (41) Bush in 1990 and George (43) Bush in 2000. The last time a Democrat was in the WH during a census was John F. Kennedy. Let us hope that the stupid Repuke's refusal to participate in the census simply leaves them under-represented in the Congress. Which is as Nature intended it to be. Naturally.

- It's all good......

http://americanhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_christmas_spirit_of_76">

K&R