It's been over 90 days since we first received our American Community Survey in the mail. All my research indicates that the Census Bureau will leave us alone now.
We were spared phone harassment and only had one personal visit. I also had several visits to this blog by person(s) at the Census Bureau. However, compared to the experiences of others (just skim the comments of that post), I'd say we got off pretty easily.
The ACS is an enormous waste of money and time. Worse than that, it represents yet another concerted effort on the part of the federal government to pry unnecessarily into the personal lives of private law-abiding citizens, ostensibly for our own good. They have tried to make participation "mandatory" but have lacked the resources--and I think good legal standing--to back up those words with action. They are counting on us to provide this information without thinking, because the vast majority of us have been convinced that the state knows what's best for us.
I will continue to call for everyone in receipt of this survey to refuse participation. I will continue to urge my representatives to ditch the ACS and restore the scope of the Census Bureau to its original purpose, that of counting our population every 10 years specifically for the purpose of determining representation in the House of Representatives.
It's been over 90 days since we first received our American Community Survey in the mail. All my research indicates that the Census Bureau will leave us alone now.
We were spared phone harassment and only had one personal visit. I also had several visits to this blog by person(s) at the Census Bureau. However, compared to the experiences of others (just skim the comments of that post), I'd say we got off pretty easily.
The ACS is an enormous waste of money and time. Worse than that, it represents yet another concerted effort on the part of the federal government to pry unnecessarily into the personal lives of private law-abiding citizens, ostensibly for our own good. They have tried to make participation "mandatory" but have lacked the resources--and I think good legal standing--to back up those words with action. They are counting on us to provide this information without thinking, because the vast majority of us have been convinced that the state knows what's best for us.
I will continue to call for everyone in receipt of this survey to refuse participation. I will continue to urge my representatives to ditch the ACS and restore the scope of the Census Bureau to its original purpose, that of counting our population every 10 years specifically for the purpose of determining representation in the House of Representatives.