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”
Actually, no one has to answer the enumeration question on the ACS. It is used as a check on the decennial census numbers. There is nothing about the ACs which is covered by the Constitution. A government lawyer made the case that because the CB has asked additional questions on the decennial census as part of the longform and that the longform was being replaced by the ACS, then the ACS deserved to be covered by the same laws which apply to the census. The problem comes in when one debates whether the CB has the right to be asking what is being asked. Congress won’t discuss it. The government has no right to use the CB to ask personal questions no matter what excuse is used. The CB doesn’t disclose how many complete the survey. The CB wastes so much money for its petty job security ploys that there is no use in informing Congress about the response rate or the completion rate since there might be a budget cut. The data junkies are at present lobbing congress for an increase in the sample size for the ACS because the little data they get isn’t enough. Go figure!
I received my 2nd ACS the other day as well, after not returning the first. I’m highly offended at the information they’re asking for. Who are they to impose this “survey” on the American people? It’s unfortunate that some trained census interrogator will possibly make their way to my front door. But I cannot in good conscience fill out and return that thing. I guess I’ll have a fun month or so playing cat & mouse or blatantly ignoring solicitors at my door. It’s also unfortunate that many people will fill the thing out completely and return it.
Resident – I’m not angry enough to be militant about this or anything. I did answer question one on the first census form, I received another one. I ignored the the first ACS and received a second which I shall also ignore….i saw your “Got Warrant”….link didn’t show up here….Hmmmm!!!???
I intend to be polite if and when someone shows up at my door and I will expect them to be the same….if not I will take a video of the next appearance of these people. I also understand that they are local people and just doing their job which is no doubt jaded by their “training”
I do not intend to fight or be rude but I will NOT be bullied…..am I scared yes a bit….as I have stated in earlier posts I have never stood up to the government before and it is a bit unnerving for me.
So time will tell and with everyone’s patience I will post updates! Thanks for your reply, info and another blog with info.
Confused as to what is right and “wrong’ 🙁
No need to lie and no need to be angry. Lying puts you in the wrong which will affect your self-confidence. Being angry will activate your Amigdala and put you into fight, flight, or feeze mode which will seriously affect your ability to think clearly and with reason. Calmly choose a course of action based on what you know about this situation and what your conscience dictates. Those two actions will put you on solid ground. Before making a decision research all that you can so you will make an informed decision.
The ACS has a bar code on it. If you simply answer the question put forth by the Constitution of the US which is in short, “How many people live in this house?” and return it anonymously it will track back to your address and Census workers will start knocking at your door. I’m sure that you can handle them politely and firmly from a position of strength and conviction.
update……now I got my second ASC yesterday
Yes, Angry, do whatever you want with it. However, consider that anything you do to make this whole song and dance worth their while will only give them incentive to do it again in 2020. The point is to make them not want to do it in 2020, so whatever you can think of to create such incentive, do it.
Do anything you want with the second. Mine is still sitting in a pile of CB mailings unopened. I keep the first one with me to show people I meet.
received my second 2010 census form….I “filled” out the first by only put the number of people residing her. Do I ignore the second or repeat? An suggestions?
Thanks to all here!!
I’m not quite that militant I just don’t want to give up personal information…I have NEVER taken a stand like this before but I will NOT back down!
Thanks for your comments!
Great, Angry. They want you to be scared. That’s how they get you. Scared of them, scared of the alternative, scared of whatever. They’re bullies or, in a more cynical term, terrorists. They get what they want by creating fear, albeit real or imaginary, to keep you in line. The first step in not being controlled by the governments is not fearing them.
You can be angry, anyway. Anger is useful. There are enough angry people now to overthrow the North American governments. I better get on manipulating these people into doing it before someone with less noble intentions does it before me. My plan is to eradicate all world governments, tell people they’re on their own, and let them taste real freedom. They will be scared, at first, because they will believe it will be chaos with government, as the government wants them too.
But, as it folds out into absolute freedom, they won’t want to give it up. I will sit as leader in name only, just to prevent new governments from taking over, while taking no taxes, and making no rules. I am of the firm believe that people are capable of governing themselves without the aid of people who profess to have more power. In the current system, people with more money can buy laws and rulings in their favour. People will more experience can not get caught even though everyone knows they did it while retaliation remains illegal. In a completely free society, the victim chooses his or her own justice, leaving the perp to guess about the odds and consequences of getting caught, thus reducing what would be formerly known as crime. They will protect the guy who acts as the person who protects their freedom from other potential imposing leaders, while doing nothing else for or against them. If I wait too long, however, the Glenn Becks and Sarah Palins of the world may take control of these people and…
Well, I don’t even want to speculate on that one.