When U.S. Census forms begin landing in our mailboxes in March, many Montanans will refuse to fill them out. And most of those who defy federal law will be hurting their own cause.
There are those on the far right (in the minority) – from Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann to the bloggers at Infowars.com – who have deemed the census too invasive and, in some cases, suggested that it’s a government plot to allow President Obama to create a New World Order.
There are a variety of reasons for this paranoia. For one, census workers will now be equipped with GPS-enabled hand-held computers to allow them to collect geographic data during pre-census canvassing. Basically, it will be easier for them to track locations than using paper maps. But some argue that it’s just the long arm of Big Brother, getting longer.
Another theory is that ACORN, a liberal political activist group under fire after employees there advised two undercover operatives how to launch a prostitution business (among other reasons), will somehow be involved in gathering information. Some states have issued press releases debunking the rumor.
Finally, anti-tax activist and talk show host Neal Boortz told his listeners that some of the questions on the census are “designed to help the government steal from you in order to pass off your property to the moochers. They’re looters.” If that was the case, I wouldn’t fill out my census form either.
But the fact remains that the census you receive will include 10 questions regarding your sex, race, age and the number people in your household. No, you don’t have to give the census your Social Security number nor disclose how many guns you own. Facebook probably knows more about you than the census.
In fact, many of those deriding the annual tally of Americans stand to benefit the most from its results. The census is used to determine the number of U.S. representatives for each state. And when redistricting begins in 2011, six traditionally “red states” stand to gain at least one seat in the House, including Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina and Texas. While “blue states,” such as Illinois, New York, Michigan, Iowa, New Jersey and Pennsylvania will lose representation.
In Montana, more than federal dollars are on the line. Our lone U.S. Congressman Denny Rehberg is expected to represent the most constituents of any representative after redistricting shakes out, and a strong census turnout could move our state closer to restoring its two-person delegation in the House the next time around.
“It’s not government controlling you, it’s how you take ownership over your own government,” Mary Craigle, bureau chief for the Montana Department of Commerce’s Census & Economic Information Center, told the Beacon.
In 2000, Montana’s response rate was 68 percent, the 20th-lowest ranked state in terms of percentage in the nation. That resulted in about $3,000 lost for every resident, federal money that instead went to another state.
Ironically, Bachmann has stopped bashing the census as of late. It could be attributed to the fact that Minnesota is on the cusp of losing a congressional seat and, if its residents don’t make a robust census showing, Bachmann’s district may be split or dissolved altogether, forcing her to face another incumbent to retain her seat.
If some of those on the far right continue to drum up reasons why people shouldn’t fill out the census, it will only be hurting its own cause. And if their campaign is successful, and the New World Order doesn’t materialize, those same critics will have 10 years to think about why “red” America is underrepresented and underfunded.