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I don't think anyone has yet mentioned that a census every 10 years is a constitutional requirement.
I am a Census Bureau temporary employee for the 2010 census. Yes, illegal aliens will be counted this year and from my understanding, this is the first time the Census Bureau will be making the effort to count them. A state's representation in the House is determined by census data so, collectively, it is to our benefit to be counted. The more people living in a state, the more representation it has in Congress. States may either lose or gain representation in Congress from the census data collected this year. Not only that, but districts are drawn based on census data, too, so that every representative represents approximately the same number of people--or as close as possible. I believe that a region's representation in their own statehouse is also determined by census data.
The census form I received asked only about the people living in my household. No other personal information was asked for. I don't know if census forms asking for personal information are being distributed this year but the forms I am working with are solely for a head count.
If you are only getting forms asking about who lives in the household, are you neglecting to mention the section for race? [You really need to go to the census.gov website and see what is on the census. It does have race, not just a body count]
The census originally was to count people and to do so every 10 years; age and sex was of importance, and it did have to do with men capable to fight.
However, smaller states always objected to the representation simply on body count; so in order to have states get equal representation, the Senate was 2 representatives per state and the "body count" gave people a variable representation in the House.
The big problems with the govt. and the census (as I see it) are
1) the districts are gerrymandered to keep certain parties in (check Louise Slaughter's district in NY: it is from Rochester city to a thin line along the lake and then over at a 90 degree angle to include the city of Buffalo. She would not have kept the democrat seat without the gerrymandering)
2) illegals will be counted for representation and even though they can't legally vote, I am sure groups like ACORN will find a way to get them registered.
Representation should be without gerrymandering and for citizens, IMHO.
If you are only getting forms asking about who lives in the household, are you neglecting to mention the section for race? [You really need to go to the census.gov website and see what is on the census. It does have race, not just a body count]
The census originally was to count people and to do so every 10 years; age and sex was of importance, and it did have to do with men capable to fight.
However, smaller states always objected to the representation simply on body count; so in order to have states get equal representation, the Senate was 2 representatives per state and the "body count" gave people a variable representation in the House.
The big problems with the govt. and the census (as I see it) are
1) the districts are gerrymandered to keep certain parties in (check Louise Slaughter's district in NY: it is from Rochester city to a thin line along the lake and then over at a 90 degree angle to include the city of Buffalo. She would not have kept the democrat seat without the gerrymandering)
2) illegals will be counted for representation and even though they can't legally vote, I am sure groups like ACORN will find a way to get them registered.
Representation should be without gerrymandering and for citizens, IMHO.
OK, if you want to get really technical and picky about what exactly is on the census forms (which I didn't want to bother with), here it is:
1. How many people are living in your household?
2. Are there any additional people in your household not included in question #1?
3. Is this housing unit owned or rented or do you live here free?
4. Telephone number?
5. Names, ages and genders of everyone living in the household.
6. Ethnicity? (Explores origin of Spanish-speaking people).
7. Race of everyone in the household.
That's it. No questions about income, highest level of education, occupation, or any other personal information. Happy now?
As for gerrymandering a district, that is out of the control of the census bureau. It's the legislators (both state and federal) who are in charge of that.
I don't see the gathering of population data as a useless exercise. There are many good reasons for a country to know how many people are living within its borders and where, other than a state's representation in Congress. Allocation of federal money for infrastructure projects, schools, hospitals, etc. is also based on census data.
Spending money on studies like this one is a boondoggle.
I don't think anyone suggested the census is a useless exercise. As a genealogist I highly value it's usefulness. I hope it can be of some use to future genealogists too.
The problem is when the data is manipulated falsely for not-so-noble politicial motives. That's where the boondoggle comes in.
Actually the American people we call Hispanic or Latino are generally part Native American. Depending on where their origins are they can be a blend of European, Native American and African bloods in all the variations possible. Identifying them for the census will quantify Spanish language needs and demographic partitioning.
I think you mean American Indian. A Native American would be anyone born in the Western Hemisphere.
OK, if you want to get really technical and picky about what exactly is on the census forms (which I didn't want to bother with), here it is:
1. How many people are living in your household?
2. Are there any additional people in your household not included in question #1?
3. Is this housing unit owned or rented or do you live here free?
4. Telephone number?
5. Names, ages and genders of everyone living in the household.
6. Ethnicity? (Explores origin of Spanish-speaking people).
7. Race of everyone in the household.
That's it. No questions about income, highest level of education, occupation, or any other personal information. Happy now?
As for gerrymandering a district, that is out of the control of the census bureau. It's the legislators (both state and federal) who are in charge of that.
I am not being picky. The pint I was trying to make is that you neglected some of the info. What you gave is exactly what is on the census form.
I personally do not think that race should be counted simply as it is being used for many ethnicities to outline their heritage while neglecting the heritage of "majority" ( white) Americans. Let's just count the people, like the 1790 census did. Illegals , if you want to really count them, should be deleted from the representation for Congress because they are ILLEGAL!
Gerrymandering could not be done by Congress without the Census.[ If you count illegals, you automatically give more weight to areas with many illegals and take from areas where citizens and LEGAL immigrants live.] In any case, most gerrymandering is simply done so an area retains a congressperson of a certain party.
In order to protect the privacy of individual citizens, census records are not released publicly until exactly 72 years from the official census date. 1930 is the most recent census year available and was released on 1 April 2002. (The 1940 census records will be available in 2012.)
FYI: You're best bet would be join Ancestry.com about two years after the 2012 release of the 1940 census as they have to make copies from microfilm.
I joined for one quarter and got all my info from the previous census records.
There seems to be some inconsistancy about the time line for the release of census records to the public.
One Ancestry site says 70 years, several others say the same thing,** 70 years.
Here's what one Ancestry site says: Census records are the backbone of research for families from about 1850 to 1930. The United States Federal government has conducted a Federal Census every 10 years and the records are released for public use after 70 years. Records prior to 1850 can be valuable, but detailed information on anyone in the family except for the head of household is not included in the census data prior to 1850.Free Trial of Ancestry.com including Online Census Records. Access Ancestry.com's online collection of census records.
** http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=...3b11f867dbecea
Does anyone know the official reason why the census is so abbreviated this time?
Compared to the 1930 census this one will be much less useful for both planning purposes and for future research- it doesn't even ask a question about income or place of birth. It doesn't even ask about literacy or level of education achieved.
State of birth is important for migration patterns. Country of origin is important for an ethnic snapshot of the population, etc. I think the waste of money comes in when one considers how much money was spent for so little info collected!
For those worried about privacy- don't you do your federal income taxes? what about social security?? That has much more personal info. The feds already know about you anyway if you are a legitimate citizen- so what's the big fuss about census data??? Don't you think the government (we the people) has a right to know who lives here?
Just strikes me as strange......
PS I've already filled ours out and mailed it - took a couple minutes to do.
The last few census forms won't be as helpful to genealogists.
Politics is the problem.
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