A Video Warning About Personal Information Being Requested By Census Takers- Commentary!
Summary of eRumor:
This is a forwarded email that contains a link to a YouTube video that warns of 2010 U.S. Census takers asking for personal information. The video encourages you not to give census takers anymore information than the U.S. Constitution allows.
The Truth:
The video is a commentary by Jerry Day, a media producer in Burbank, Ca.
Day affirms that the US Constitution authorizes the government to conduct a census every ten years to freshly count the U.S. population. He questions, however, whether the government has any Constitutional authority to do anything beyond that. He also objected to the long list of questions being asked by the 2010 Census.
In the video, Day voiced his concerns questioning where the government received the authority to conduct surveys every year and what private information can be requested. Day also said that unless census takers can show you their constitutional authority that citizens are not required to open the door for them.
According to the 2010 US Census web site there ten questions which will be asked by census takers:
1. How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment or mobile home on April 1, 2010?
2. Were there any additional people staying here on April 1, 2010 that you did not include in question 1?
(It asks to check boxes that apply)
3. Is the home, apartment or mobile home owned with a mortgage, owned paid for free and clear, rented or occupied
without payment of rent?
4. What is your telephone number so they can call you incase you do not understand a question?
5. Provide the first name, middle initial and last name of each person residing here.
6. Is the first person listed in question 5 male or female?
7. What is that person’s age and date of birth?
8. Is this person of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish Origin? (specify race by checking boxes that apply)
9. What is this person’s race? (specify race by checking boxes that apply)
10. Does this person sometimes live somewhere else? (check boxes that apply)
The founding fathers of the United States used term “enumeration” (meaning “count”) in article 1 section 2 of the U.S. Constitution which allows a census or a population count to be conducted every 10 years to determine the number of representatives needed in Congress. The Constitution mandates the number in the House of Representatives shall not exceed one per 30,000 people residing in each state.
Anyone considering not answering all the questions on the 2010 Census should consider the consequences.
Judge Andrew Napolitano, who served on the New Jersey bench of the Superior Court, on his March 2, 2010 Fox News broadcast said that “the Supreme Court has never ruled on the Constitutionality of census questions beyond the counting of heads but numerous lower federal courts have found it Constitutional.” Judge Napolitano also indicated that those refusing to submit answers to census questions could be subject to a $100 fine with a maximum of $5000 with no jail time.
updated 03/04/10