What the Census Bureau Can & CAN"T Ask You Under the Constitution

To save you a little time here is what Article I, Section 2, clause 3 says: "actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct." That's it, just a count of people who live there & only for the purpose of apportioning the number of Representatives and direct Taxes among the states. Nothing else. All the rest are surveys that we do NOT have to answer under the Constitution.

Over the last few weeks the Census Bureau has been running some ads that I find, bluntly, insulting to my intelligence. They make it sound like we need a census every year otherwise we would be way too dumb to know what our community does or doesn't need. While the census does help us know how our state & local community is or isn't growing, if our local officials can't figure out what is going on between the decennial counts then they should be fired or kicked out of office & replaced by people who know what they are doing. The Census Bureau ads are an effort to brainwash us into giving up more control to the Federal government that never was & still isn't theirs under the Constitution.

For the record, I plan on answering all the Constitutionally required questions.

Finally, if you don't have a copy of the Constitution, follow the link I have at the right under Charters of Freedom. You can also go to your local bookstore & buy a copy for a very inexpensive price. Many groups like The Heritage Foundation also have copies available for a reasonable price or free in some cases. I would also recommend getting a copy of The Federalist Papers as well. In addition, there is a paperback called The Anti-Federalist Papers and the Constitutional Convention Debates that contains a selection of the complete Anti- Federalist Papers (available on the internet here). These books are invaluable for a better understanding of how our Federal Government should & shouldn't operate.

See also: Count On A Nosy Government