Year of the Rat -- I Mean, Census

Becky Akers / Campaign for Liberty:
Serfs who suffer the Census Bureau's invasive curiosity might consider this one of the Constitution's errors, right up there with granting Congress power over the eighteenth-century version of telecoms ("To establish Post Offices and Post Roads") and our wallets ("To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof" and "provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting." [Art. 1, Sec. 8]). The Census is indeed a mistake, not only in its concept but in the phrasing: given the latitude of "in such Manner as they shall by Law direct," it's hard to argue that any question bureaucrats ask, whether via mail, phone, or personal visits, violates the Constitution once legislation authorizes it. Indeed, that document's elasticity enables the Census Bureau to justify even its annual "surveys" by claiming they help with its gargantuan, decennial task.

Posted by Editor at February 3, 2010 02:53 AM