| Census
intrusions
Washington
times March 17, 2000
James Bovard
''There are three certainties in life
— death, taxes and the continuation of the Census Bureau's proud
tradition of keeping information it collects about individuals strictly
private." So announces the Census Bureau's web page, seeking to
assure Americans that they have nothing to fear by opening their lives
to the prying of this year's Census.
Regrettably, after seven years of the
Clinton administration, some Americans may be a little skeptical about
this "trust us — we're the government" line. And,
considering the Census Bureau's dark history, people have plenty of
reason to fear that their answers could be used against them.
In 1942, the Census Bureau made up a
special list telling the U.S. Army how many Japanese-Americans lived in
each neighborhood in the United States. The Army used the Census lists
to send out trucks to round up Japanese-Americans for internment camps
during World War II.
Census Bureau spokeswoman Paula Schneider
stressed that, because the Census Bureau did not disclose the specific
names and addresses of Japanese-Americans, it did not compromise the
confidentiality of Census respondents. Ms. Schneider noted,
"unfortunately, what was used was data for small geographic areas
that showed where the Japanese lived." This is like someone
claiming he has no responsibility for setting loose a wolf on your
street that just happened to gnarl your leg — simply because he didn't
set the wolf free at your doorstep and tell the wolf to bite you
personally.
Why should Americans believe the Census
Bureau would be more trustworthy than the White House? In 1993-94, the
Clinton White House illegally requested and received from the FBI 900
confidential background files that the FBI had compiled on Bush and
Reagan administration nominees. When news of this abuse surfaced in
1996, Mr. Clinton shrugged off the gross violation of privacy as a
"completely honest bureaucratic snafu." Congressional
investigators recently discovered the White House had wrongfully refused
to turn over thousands of subpoenaed e-mails regarding the use and abuse
of the files. No White House official has faced a serious prospect of
jail time for breaking the law.
Federal law states that "in no case
shall [Census] information be used to the detriment of any respondent or
other persons to whom such information relates." But, according to
the U.S. General Accounting Office, Census responses have also been used
for government housing code crackdowns. Responses are especially helpful
in allowing local governments to know where to carry out raids for
allegedly overcrowded housing. When asked about such uses of Census
data, Ms. Schneider replied: "You balance the need for small area
data with the possibility that it could possibly be used for purposes
for which it was not intended." Such housing crackdowns sometimes
appear little more than a pretext to evict blacks, Hispanics, or other
low-income people.
The information the Census gathers will
help fuel new government interventions. A Census Bureau press release
noted that "Race data are required . . . to assess racial
disparities in health and environmental risks." This is part of the
Clinton administration's "environmental justice" campaign —
an effort to portray routine business decisions as part of a racist
conspiracy. These policies have helped discourage new factories from
locating in areas of high unemployment.
The Census Bureau is also trying to whip
up enthusiasm by telling people of all the federal benefits their
localities will receive thanks to their cooperation.
The Census has degenerated from a method
of counting the population into a scheme for generating grist for the
expansion of the welfare state. Information on occupations is used to
construct affirmative action quotas for different industries.
Information on "place of birth" is used by the Civil Rights
Commission as a base line for determining discrimination by national
origin. Information on home value and rental levels is used by housing
agencies to establish subsidy programs.
Census Director Kenneth Prewitt declared
that people's Census answers affect "power, money, group interests,
civil rights; in short, who gets how much of what." But the federal
government has no right to dictate "who gets how much of
what." The Census, by providing reams of information, allows
politicians to further manipulate people's lives. The more information
government collects, the more control government can exert.
The Constitution mandates that an
enumeration of the citizenry be conducted every 10 years in order to
apportion seats in the House of Representatives. Citizens should refuse
to answer any Census question except for the number of residents at an
address. A partial boycott of the Census questionnaire is necessary to
safeguard our liberties.
James Bovard is the author of “Freedom in Chains: The Rise of the
State & the Demise of the Citizen” (St. Martin’s Press, 1999).
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