Census Fearmongering Backfires

We can only hope! Just once, please don't let fear win out in America. What ever happened to the land of the brave?

RADICAL RIGHT

The 2010 Census will count "everyone residing in the United States: in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Island Areas," as mandated by the Constitution. Filling out the Census and sending it back to the federal government is required by law. But last summer, conservatives -- led by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Fox News' radical host Glenn Beck -- began a fearmongering campaign designed to discourage Americans from filling out their forms. Many on the right argue that "it is unconstitutional for the census to ask anything beyond the number of people in a household." While this year's questionnaire asks about race, gender, and age, the Census "has asked similar questions for decades." Indeed, Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution requires the government to conduct a population count every 10 years as to assure accurate representation in Congress. Now that health care reform passed, the right is setting its sights once again on the Census, ratcheting up fiery rhetoric intended to scare Americans about some imaginary federal government overreach. Anti-immigrant groups have also relaunched their anti-Census campaign, fearing "theft of representation from lawful Americans." But at the same time, conservatives are starting to publicly recognize that filling out the Census is beneficial, and some have expressed worry that lower participation "could reduce the number of Republican seats in Congress and state legislatures." In a new public service announcement, former Bush adviser Karl Rove encouraged Census participation. "One of my favorite founders is James Madison, principal author of the Constitution. He created an instrument of democracy by writing into the Constitution a requirement for a census every 10 years to ensure fair representation in Congress," he noted.

EXTREME RHETORIC: Bachmann led the anti-Census charge last year, declaring that she would illegally refuse to answer any question beyond the number of people living in her home. Even though Bachmann has since voted for a House resolution urging Census participation, she returned to fearmongering last month, saying "there's some very serious problems with the census" because it is "counting illegal aliens." The right-wing noise machine -- from Beck, radio host Rush Limbaugh, and blogger Michelle Malkin, to new CNN contributor and Red State blogger Erick Erickson -- is also getting the message out. Erickson said recently he would "pull out" his wife's shotgun if authorities try to arrest him for not filling out the American Community Survey -- a longer questionnaire conducted by the Census Bureau that is sent to a small subset of Americans to collect more detailed demographic information. Beck has said that he refuses to complete the Census form because the government is "out of control." Beck has also said that the survey is an attempt to "increase slavery." The Commerce Department responded to Erickson's shotgun comment, saying that precautions are being made to "protect the safety of both census workers and the public."

ANTI-IMMIGRANT FERVOR: The 14th Amendment requires that representatives be apportioned according to an indiscriminate population count of "the whole number of persons in each State." Moreover, the data is used to allocate federal funding. Thus, non-citizens, children, ex-felons, legal residents, and several other non-voters are included in Census apportionment data in order to paint an accurate portrait of a state's demographic makeup and population density that's key to effective and adequate representation. However, anti-immigrant groups such as Americans for Legal Immigration (ALIPAC) don't want everyone in the U.S. to be counted. ALIPAC recently started a campaign to frighten undocumented immigrants from filling out the survey. An ALIPAC press release stated that "[i]llegal immigrants are being targeted with taxpayer funded ad in Spanish encouraging them to fill out the Census, so they will get more taxpayer resources and have more political power." "We want Congress to take action now to authorize and require the use of census data collected to identify illegal aliens, exclude them from the census count for tax resources and Congressional redistricting, and to detain and deport those found in violation of our immigration laws," said ALIPAC William Gheen.

TRYING TO REPAIR THE DAMAGE: The Wall Street Journal reported this week that according to Census data, "some of the most conservative states have among the lowest response rates so far" which now has many Republicans worried. In fact, Texas has one of the lowest rates of return in the country, which is perhaps why Rove is now appearing in the public service announcement "designed to convince people to mail back their 2010 census forms by the end of the month." And Republican Rep. Patrick McHenry (NC) recently called out the right-wing smear campaign surrounding the Census. "[W]hat worries me is blatant misinformation coming from otherwise well-meaning conservatives," McHenry said. "Anyone who tells you that this year's census is unconstitutional and that you are not required to fill out the form completely is flat out wrong. ... That argument doesn't stand up to either history or the Constitution's text." The congressman told the Journal that it is everyone's "constitutional duty to respond" to the Census. "It's often difficult for conservatives to separate overall government intervention from a question as simple as the census," he said.
 

There is nothing civil about civil wars!