Census Conspiracy Theories?

3 July 2009 - 11:00am

With the Census Bureau still without a Director and the 2010 Census looming, the count is facing a new threat in the form of right-wing conspiracy theories.

The Constitution requires that every citizen in the United States be counted in the Census, and these data are, according to Think Progress, used;

"to apportion the seats in the House of Representatives; 'distribute $300 billion in federal funds to local, state and tribal governments each year'; define local school districts; and make many other urban planning decisions including 'where to provide services for the elderly, where to build new roads and schools, or where to locate job training centers.'"

However, planning for the next count is being hampered by the claims of a number of right-wing pundits and politicians -- most notably Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) -- to the effect that the federal government will use the information to "round up" Americans.

Full Story: Smearing the Census
Source: The Progress Report, July 2, 2009
Related links:

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Whither GOP?

With members like Michele Bachmann, rational Republicans must be at the cusp of splitting off from what one might think has become the New World branch of the Monster Raving Loony Party....

...but that unfair association would besmirch the USEFUL work accomplished by the Loonies:

http://www.omrlp.com/

Bookmark and Share
Most planning education providers are self-supporting and operate literally hand-to-mouth from course revenues. Because planners are not as wealthy as lawyers or doctors, we have to keep our costs down which makes our margins thin.