GOP paranoia about the US Census may cost the party in Congress
UPDATE: Karl Rove is appearing in a PSA encouraging Americans to fill out their Census forms. Will tea partiers listen to Rove?
Republicans may reap what they sowed when they failed to rein in GOP rightwingers such as government basher Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman whose rants have included urging fellow conservatives not to complete their U.S. Census forms. Now, GOP leaders are worried that lots of anti-government tea-party types will follow suit — or ignore the census altogether. If so, they’ll be undercounted, and the GOP may lose Congressional seats.
Last summer, Bachmann started whipping up strange conspiracies about the census:
Outspoken Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann says she’s so worried that information from next year’s national census will be abused that she will refuse to fill out anything more than the number of people in her household.
In an interview Wednesday morning with The Washington Times “America’s Morning News,” Mrs. Bachmann, Minnesota Republican, said the questions have become “very intricate, very personal” and she also fears ACORN, the community organizing group that came under fire for its voter registration efforts last year, will be part of the Census Bureau’s door-to-door information collection efforts.
Outspoken Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann says she’s so worried that information from next year’s national census will be abused that she will refuse to fill out anything more than the number of people in her household.
Now, Census completion is running behind in some ultra-conservative precincts, including parts of Texas, where lawmakers had expected to add congressional seats because of population increases.
From the WSJ:
Some Republicans are worried that an anti-government surge among conservatives will lead to lower participation in the U.S. census, which they fear could reduce the number of Republican seats in Congress and state legislatures.
The census, which is currently being collated and is gathered every ten years, dictates the distribution of federal funding, how many House members each state gets and how congressional and legislative districts are drawn within states. . .
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.), who is admired by many tea-party activists and ultra-conservatives, has said she will refuse to provide information about anything except the number of people in her household.Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas), a former presidential candidate with a small but ardent following, was the only lawmaker to vote against a recent congressional resolution urging participation in the census.
Respondents must answer all questions on the census at the risk of a fine of as much as $100, according to the Census 2010 Web site. If forms are sent in incomplete, census workers are sent out to those homes to collect the missing data.
“The census should be nothing more than a headcount,” Mr. Paul wrote this month in his weekly column. “It was never intended to serve as a vehicle for gathering personal information on citizens.”
In a counter move, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R., N.C.), the top Republican on the House subcommittee that oversees the census, posted a message last week on Redstate.com, a popular conservative Web site, pleading with conservatives to fill out their forms.
The unstated concern: An under-representation of conservatives could mean fewer Republicans in Congress and state legislatures for the next 10 years.
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72 comments Add your comment
Peadawg
April 5th, 2010
7:49 am
“she will refuse to fill out anything more than the number of people in her household.”
Which is really all they need to know.
Drifter
April 5th, 2010
7:49 am
I’ve heard a few people speak about not returning their forms and I wouldn’t classify them as rightwingers…morons is probably a better term. All they’re doing is shooting themselves in the foot, causing the government to spend more money trying to have them counted, plus the issues with Congressional seats and access to federal money.
Dee keith
April 5th, 2010
8:00 am
ctucker you chided me once for refering to conservatives as being ignorant, because I disagree with them, but as i’ve always said it’s not a matter of what I say as much as what they prove, and this article underscores that point.
Road Scholar
April 5th, 2010
8:12 am
While we were given the short form to fill out, nothing is on the census that one wouldn’t fill out besides their income level. It’s like a marketing questionaire. Besides, the government can cross reference that to your tax return! I just don’t want a marketer to have my income level.
The info is to determine the demographics of each state. Same info one might give in a marketing poll. They are not morons….they are paranoid morons!
Mark
April 5th, 2010
8:15 am
Lots going on in the world but the Dunwoody Journal Constitution wants to talk about silliness. Even passed on Hank Johnson…the silliest of them all.
Granny Godzilla
April 5th, 2010
8:18 am
GOP paranoid? That’s old news.
This is a perfect example of the GOP tendency to urge their constituency
to act in ways contrary to their own best interest.
Just like elections, the census has consequences.
The last Boy Scout
April 5th, 2010
8:20 am
This is a dream come true; Less Repugs conservatives and more normal people. The Repugs have found the true terrorists of this country,Themselfs.
Peadawg
April 5th, 2010
8:21 am
Granny, what else does the government need to know besides the basic “how many people in your household” question?
Road Scholar
April 5th, 2010
8:24 am
Peadawg: Their ages so that they can plan services like schools.
bob
April 5th, 2010
8:28 am
Cynthia, why lie to make a point. Bachmann was against the long form that asks questions like the equity in your home and how many bathrooms you have.
bob
April 5th, 2010
8:32 am
Road, that is lame. Every year the system knows what the school’s enrollment is. Schools just don’t wait until they get the ten year census info to figure out if the year to year enrollment has changed.
Granny Godzilla
April 5th, 2010
8:36 am
Peadawg
“The data are also the primary source of statistics used to distribute more than $400 billion dollars in federal funds to state, local and tribal areas for government programs. Businesses use census data to help make decisions about where to locate new stores and factories. City planners use the data to determine the right locations to build things such as schools, roads and other public facilities. Real estate agents and potential residents use the data to learn about new neighborhoods as well as track trends over time that help predict future needs.”
From Census.gov
Course what that really means in “Repulispeak” is that they are going to give me your home address so I can come over with a U-Haul and take all your stuff back to my house in an act of government supported wealth redistribution.
Hope you have some nice throw pillows.
Dee keith
April 5th, 2010
8:36 am
I say if we really want conservatives to be counted, then send them a copy of Sarah Palins hand print, and if they spell their name wrong, not only will they be counted, they will be able to take credit for increased funding of the Dept. of Education.
Granny Godzilla
April 5th, 2010
8:42 am
HEADLINE FROM ANCIENT NEWSPAPER:
Bethlehem GOP urge Mary and Joseph not to participate in census.
Peadawg
April 5th, 2010
8:43 am
And of course Granny is so gullible she believes anything the government says. How many people in the household and their age is all they will get from me…if I ever get the form in the first place.
neo-Carlinist
April 5th, 2010
8:44 am
let’s be honest; if Washington, DC and our current political process is a joke, the Census is a joke. it seems to me moonbats like Bachman should be instructing others to provide bogus information, as opposed to “minimal” information. that said, I agree with Ron Paul, anything beyond “headcount” is designed to compile demographic data so that politicans can get idea as to whose votes they’ll be courting come next election. and don’t get me started on the ads to “sell” the census, OR the direct mail campaign. letter 1: you will soon receive a census form. letter 2: here is your census form. letter three: thanks for completing your census form. such waste borders on OCD (does the Fed really have to “predict” the census, and thank me for completing it? seems to me, receiving it is “proof” it exists, there is no need to thank me for obeying the law – lest I be fined for disobeying big brother).
ctucker1fan
April 5th, 2010
8:52 am
ctucker arent you and a lot of your hippy fans always making fun of fox for not being fair and balanced? where is your balance and fairness? i dont recall the last time you reported on a democratic screw up or how stupid their ideas are…do you just choose to ignore the idiotic things your party does or have you fallen for thier tactics like the rest of the mindless americans that still think obama and his administration are doing a good job?
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
April 5th, 2010
8:53 am
Well, I filled out my form. I was kind of suprized the form come round out and used the N-word as a choice. I sort of expected they would use “Those People,” like us GA rednecks use when we’re out in public and can’t really use what we normally say in our home. But I ain’t worryed none about us Conservatives being under-counted. About 9 out of 10 of us GA people are Conservatives and proud of it, so a few people not filling out the form won’t hurt us none.
Have a good day everybody.
ctucker
April 5th, 2010
8:55 am
ctucker1fan, I probably disagree with you about the Dems’ ideas. Some of them can certainly behave like idiots, but most of their ideas are good. As for “balance and fairness,” I make no claim to that. This is not a news site. It’s an opinion site.
ctucker
April 5th, 2010
8:56 am
Bob, Where did I lie? I QUOTED Bachmann.
Granny Godzilla
April 5th, 2010
8:59 am
Peadawg
“And of course Granny is so gullible she believes anything the government says”
Nope. AND, what an incredibly ignorant and rude thing to say!
May I list just a wee sample of the things the government has said I don’t believe?
WMD
Iraq was responsible for 9-11
they’d greet us as liberators
that oil revenue would pay for the war
that we used warrants before wiretapping
brownie was doing a heck of a job
valerie plame….
tax cuts for the top 2% will trickle down
that we weren’t having a recession
that we were having a mental recession
Some day Peadawg, you’ll be enough of a grown up to think about what you post before you take your mittens off to start typing.
Barry Osborne
April 5th, 2010
9:04 am
As for all this “Party of No,” and Tea Party stuff, along with the Democratic Party’s participation in gridlock, I can only hope the adage “This too shall pass,” will prove true.
Peadawg
April 5th, 2010
9:04 am
LMAO!!!!!!!!! Thanks for the good Monday laugh. Granny lists everything Bush said. How ironic.
Chris Broe
April 5th, 2010
9:07 am
If anything, the demographic inquisition portion of the census isn’t personal enough. They should put a few IQ sample tests in the form. You know, questions about gravity and how flat the earth is, or which amendment added a restrictor plate to Nascar fuel intakes, and such.
That’ll define the demographic nuances from which we can better extrapolate Tea Party protest motivations and then more accurately anticipate expectoration patterns, and ultimately provide government umbrellas for our electorate.
Sounds like a win win 2 moi.
BTW: Who holds the record for the furthest spitoon target bullseye?
lovelyliz
April 5th, 2010
9:09 am
Not a peep about the Patriot Act (at 2000-ish page), but the Census that asks for dates of birth and number of people in your home they fear?!?!?!!?!?
Granny Godzilla
April 5th, 2010
9:09 am
Peadawg
Mittens dude……I could not have possibly listed everything….
Mittens – take them off.
Chris Broe
April 5th, 2010
9:10 am
“Mary and Joseph urged not to participate in census”.
That’s right, and look how many seats the Christians lost in the colliseum!
joan
April 5th, 2010
9:11 am
All they need is a count. Anything else is purely political.
Greg
April 5th, 2010
9:28 am
I am a little confused- the pie gets larger the more I complete the census? If this is true, the Republicans are indeed ignorant.
The Tar and Feathers Party
April 5th, 2010
9:30 am
When the census is collecting gps coordinates for rural farm houses, it is time for paranoia. Do the Predator’s not launch hellfire missiles that are guided by gps satalites? The Washington clowns think they run America, and should things go badly for America in the future, dissidents in Rural area’s could be eliminated surgically by the Washington clowns using the gps data. It is time to put Washington on a very short leash, there are too many ego maniacs sitting in that worthless city, thinking they are smarter than the rest of us. To the Washington clowns, the rest of us are expendable in their pursuit of greater power and glory for themselves. Leash em I say. Use spiked choker collars.
SouthernGal
April 5th, 2010
9:41 am
I was born in another country to a foreign mother and a GA dad…arrived in the country at the age of 3 months. My race is AMERICAN!
Greg
April 5th, 2010
9:58 am
To Chris Broe and the other self proclaimed uber intelligent “I will hide behind my blog tough guys”- the insecurity is astounding-
Gator Joe
April 5th, 2010
9:59 am
Ms. Tucker,
Thanks for the timely article. The responses of some of your readers to this article and their beliefs about the census, underscores just how far behind this state’s education system is relative to most of the other states.
Citizens of Georgia should complete their census forms correctly, if for no other reason, than to bring in more education dollars!
jt
April 5th, 2010
10:00 am
“Rep. Ron Paul (R., Texas), a former presidential candidate with a small but ardent following,”
Your R & D party is in for a rude awakening in November.
jconservative
April 5th, 2010
10:03 am
If some think the government uses the census data to find out personal data on each individual, then we as a country are in big trouble.
Send me your address or name and I can learn everything about you worth knowing and a lot of stuff not worth knowing. How much liquor you buy, do you buy pajamas, what is your favorite food, do you use corn or potato chips with your salsa???? All info available at the pushing of a button. All from the American free enterprise system.
And, kinda keep this on the quiet, the government also buys this info.
Russ555
April 5th, 2010
10:04 am
Ignorance and fear of govt never seems to end. No matter how pointless.
Richard
April 5th, 2010
10:09 am
I do enjoy listening to tea partiers talk about following the constitution to the letter then bashing the census.
Greg
April 5th, 2010
10:10 am
Gator Joe- you may want to google on the AJC page perfect AJC scores Alpharetta High School. One of many very diverse and very highly regarded (nationally) high schools in the area. Maybe you, my good friend, are the ignorant one.
Greg
April 5th, 2010
10:11 am
SAT versus AJC scores-
ncgreybr
April 5th, 2010
10:12 am
Sorry to break it to “Southern Gal” but “American” is NOT a race. It is a nationality.
ncgreybr
April 5th, 2010
10:17 am
I take some of that back. United States of America is a nationality.
You can be from South America and be (south) “American” or be from Canada and be (north) “American”.
The Tar and Feathers Party
April 5th, 2010
10:19 am
Go back and read the history of the WWI veterans after they returned from the “War to End All Wars.” They were very bitter, angry, and felt betrayed by the government in many ways. They were promised a bonus for their service, but Congress reneged on that promise. The vets protested on the Mall in Washington. The Washington clowns sent in the riot police backed up by Army units, killing many of the vets. Never trust the government, it may be benevolent now, but when push comes to shove, we are the expendable ones, not the Washington clowns. If WWI does not appeal to you, look at the Civil war vets, the same sort of thing happened. If you have something the government needs or just wants, they will take it, be it your life, your property, or your good name. Never, ever trust them to do the right thing. They won’t. The post WWII era has been an anomaly, brought about by 1) America having the only industrial plant left intact by the war, 2) the massive us gold stores from selling weapons and food to Europe during WWI and WWII, 3) America leadership and dollar dominance during the cold war. Those three drivers of the anomaly have been pretty much used up, and when the guv can no longer print all the currency they want, they will take from us what they need or want. Hide your wealth and children.
Wahoo
April 5th, 2010
10:20 am
While it’s true that if right-leaning folks refrain from filling out their census forms, they could be under-represented in Congress, having read Cynthia for years this whole topic seems more like something that Cynthia wishes would happen, as opposed to something that is likely to come to pass. At the end of the day, I suspect a large majority of the objectors will fill in their forms and begrudgingly mail them in.
It appears to me that the issue that people have with the census is simply another manifestation of something that is growing widespread: utter disgust with the government. IMO, what the talking heads miss is that the contempt goes beyond party lines since both parties are so culpable. People are acting out in ways that are (sometimes) counterproductive or (sometimes) worse because they feel like they have no say in what’s going on. Further, it seems to me that the average person has caught on that the system has become so corrupted that our “leaders” in Washington have virtually no accountability to the electorate. We have a Congress with an 14-24% approval rating (depending on the source) that, due in no small part to gerrymandering, and monied special interests will probably have an 80% incumbent re-election rate.
Speaking of silliness in Congress, why are we not talking about Hank Johnson and how Georgia’s 4th Congressional district is again the laughingstock of the nation? John Jay surely could not have had Hank in mind when he talked about how the best men in the nation would consent to serve under a national government in Federalist #3.
MKS
April 5th, 2010
10:22 am
Constitutionally, the federal government does have the need and the right to know how many people live in my home, so that the proper number of representatives are accorded to my home state.
Why does the federal government need to know more? Why income? Why race? These questions seem to promote class and racial divisiveness.
Is it to get “our fair share of benefits”? Is it “submit to government prying in order to receive our crumbs of benevolence”?
I do hope that in the near future the government can provide excellent security, print the money, and otherwise get out of our lives, so that there are no “benefits” to apportion.
Greg
April 5th, 2010
10:23 am
ncgreybr- or you can be a thinker a realize she was making a metaphor- not an emphatic statement. Nevertheless you may continue dribbling on- which by the way doesn’t mean I think you are Lebron James…
Gator Joe
April 5th, 2010
10:38 am
Greg:
I refer you to how your state ranks with regard to other states in terms of education. Your example does not alter the facts or what I read in these responses. I support everyone’s right to express their opinions. You bristle, and name-call, when ignorant statements are questioned. If it makes you feel better to call me ignorant do so. The fact remains, yours is a backward state.
Sick&Tired
April 5th, 2010
10:40 am
I say, let the idiots do as they please; at least we can refer back to Bachmann when they raise complaints. All good sheep should follow their master; right off a cliff.
I see Mr. Steele is feeling a little discriminated against when he compared his situation to President Obama. : )
Greg
April 5th, 2010
10:41 am
I suppose that all blacks are bad due to their higher incarceration rate- I am sorry I offended you and I will look for you at the next Mensa meeting
Greg
April 5th, 2010
10:42 am
As to bristling- I am relaxed and laughing at the silliness I read on this blog.
Micar
April 5th, 2010
10:48 am
I find this stuff absolutely laughable. Just finished the book by Turow “Niche Envy” and “Shoptimism” by Eisenburg. These authors just add to the info put out in “Applebee’s America”. Corporate data mining is so highly developed that they already know everything about you down to what time you day your morning constitutional to which way you voted and why in the last election. If Michelle Bachmann is worried about those little questions on the census, she had better get some privacy legislation started pronto. Americans have been sliced and diced and put into little data boxes so much by those folks wanting you to buy something that their is no more privacy in the word private anymore. This paranoia over the census is just another political manipulation by the right wingers.