Did anyone else receive one of these? According to their web site, US Code Title 13, sections Section 141 and Section 193 your response is required by law.
In reality, those sections outline that The Secretary (who is presumably defined elsewhere) can take surveys as a part of their census process. It is Section 221 that requires you to respond:
Whoever, being over eighteen years of age, refuses or willfully neglects, when requested by the Secretary, or by any other authorized officer or employee of the Department of Commerce or bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of the Secretary or authorized officer, to answer, to the best of his knowledge, any of the questions on any schedule submitted to him in connection with any census or survey provided…
That’s just a crock.
Oh, sure, census information is useful and all that. It’s just the principal of it. I guess I’ll have to ask the nice lady who came to my door for some evidence that she is an authorized officer or employee of the Deparment of Commerce, or a bureau or agency thereof acting under the instructions of The Secretary.
Heck, I’d pay the $100 if it weren’t for Title 18, Section 3571 (allegedly Section 3559 as well, but that seems to deal with imprisonment and not monetary fines). With it on the books, the “not greater than $100” fine becomes “not greater than $5000” fine. That really blows.
Comments
718 responses to “American Community Survey”
I’m also a U.S. citizen being harrassed by my own Government. I’ve gotten the mailings and phone calls and have ignored all. Also, I have been ignored by Sen. Casey(Pa.) and Rep. Holden (Pa.) but both being Dems. probably answers that. My question is with as many people under this undue attack by our own Government, why haven’t the talk show pundents i.e. Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannady, Bill o’Reilly, Glenn beck, and our own public officials not standing up to this tyranny???
Man, the phone calls have stopped and nobody bothered to come and knock on my door. Shame, I’ve been kinda hungry lately.
Paul, don’t waste your time with the CB reps. Either ignore them or tell them no.
I have read several posts regarding the Public Servant’s Questionnaire, with the idea being to give this to the Census worker who is administrating the ACS. It looks great, and I imagine the CB person wouldn’t fill it out, BUT, I’ve also read that you need to request they fill this PQS out in your presence, and if they take the time to fill it out, you would then be obligated to answer the ACS for them! Is this a better chance to take than just saying No? It doesn’t sound like you can do both. Necessary to get them to comply with the PQS, is the understanding that you aren’t refusing the ACS. I like the thought of handing this form to a CB worker, but wouldn’t want them to fill it out and then get on to their real business of getting my information?!
I don’t think it’s right for the government to be snooping in my personal private life . I don’t tell my mother anything about my life and i’m 54 .Why would they have a right to know who i bump uglys with or who i sleep with or where i sleep . Why does it matter how many bedrooms you have or which one in the house you sleep in . What are they planning ? Are they going to come and drag us out of our beds and kill us or what ? This all scares me and i will be on the move . I’m homeless now and sleep where ever i land , guess i will just stay a few nites here and there now .
Recipients of the American Community Survey are told several times that the information given is necessary for the operation of our government, is very secure and is kept private. What they don’t tell you is that the information is available to a long list of private corporation, research agencies and think tanks, who use the information to justify and pursue their own agendas.
You may have noticed over the past week on the news, many articles about the new situation in American families where the wife is now the major bread winner/wage earner. Other articles have slanted this to be a case of “men marrying into money”.
Where did this information come from and why is it on the news? It came from data mining by the Pew Research Center. Where did they get the data? From the American Community Survey and your tax dollars at work. Look at the listed source on the graphs in this article.
Hello everyone!
FYI I’m a 52yo Honorably Discharged Disabled Veteran.
I gave the best years of my life in service of my Country.
I am ashamed of what our govt has done and continues to do to us.
ALL OF US.!!!!
Although I have no children, I fear the future will be bleak for all of them.
Got the “survey” back in November 09. Kept it lying around.
I must mention here that even though I NEVER received a survey form before this one, I was hassled back in ’01 when I lived in the city by some lady with a clipboard and a “Census Bureau” badge. I told her to leave or I would call the law. Never heard from them again till now.
I now live WAY out in the styx, like 11 miles from the nearest gas station/convenience store. In the Northwoods………….
I found these posts back in December after receiving the intrusive “questionnaire.” Best comments on this subject to date, and thanks to all who posted, as there isn’t much else out there.
The first personal contact this year was on Jan 10. at about 3 in the afternoon. I wrote down the lady’s name, from her DL, noted the make, model, color, year of her car, her tag# and then politely asked her to leave or I would call the sheriff’s department and report her as a hostile trespasser. I had the phone in my hand. She looked like a librarian, so I took it easy on her. She offered a parting handshake, I withdrew. She said her supervisor would call. She couldn’t get out of the driveway fast enough. She almost got stuck in the snow!
I spoke with my attorney after this first visit and he said that I don’t have to answer any questions from any Govt official except under oath, and in his presence. Even if I was under arrest he said, I wouldn’t have to utter a word without him there.
Had another visit by the census taker today, Jan 18 2010 about 2:15pm this time a man. He almost walked right up on me as I was stacking firewood into my quad-trailer. (I should be more wary..) “Excuse me sir,” he says, trudging through the snow as he is showing his little ACS badge “I was wondering if…” ..I loudly cut him off..” You are trespassing!” I told him, pointing at the road, “Get out of here” I said loudly. He said “I only want to ask you a few questions,” and that “he didn’t even need to know my real name.” (Well I knew he had that info right in front of him on his clipboard, so now he is also trying to play me for a dumb*ss)
Now I’m getting pissed…… so I went into yelling at the guy and telling him to get the hell off my property. I told him he was wasting my time, and said I wouldn’t answer any questions unless it was in front of my lawyer and my accountant and on his nickel. He said “he wasn’t going to pay for anything,” I said “neither was I.” “I already pay enough in taxes” I said, and repeated that he was wasting my time. He said “he would send someone else,” I said, good and that I would tell them the exact same thing.
He continued, saying that I “only had to answer a few of the questions,” but I told him again that unless I was under arrest, or had a court-ordered subpoena to answer, that I would tell him NOTHING! Especially without my attorney present. He waded off through the snow towards his vehicle saying I “would hear from them again.” Didn’t get his name this time, but I got his tag # and Y, M, M, color of his car.
Will post again regarding this.
Thank you all for your posts and for giving me the impetus to stand up to these goons.
Peace,
Tyler
“A census taker once tried to test me . . . I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti.”
Refused two mailings, got the phone call, refused any compliance, told the poor woman to save us both a lot of time and just send police or IRS agents to deal with me because I will not answer any of these questions, ever. She reminded me that my compliance was mandatory, I reminded her that I’m a free man in a free country, and that compliance with Jim Crow laws was once mandatory; don;t think she appreciated that comment, noted me again as a refusal and hung up.
Got my first visit today, never got a mail in survey. I am one who will dish out as much as they give so,I am looking forward to it.
Follow them to their house and stop by all the time just to tell them I’m still
not answering the questions !!!!!