Founded in 1991, the Republican Liberty Caucus works to advance the principles of limited government, free markets and individual liberty within the Republican Party.

Left attacks Rep. Bachmann for defending privacy in Census collection

By Aaron - June 19, 2009 at 11:16 AM
Filed under Civil Liberties , Issues

Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann of Minnesota was a guest on the Washington Times radio show the other day.

BACHMANN: The motherload of all data information will be from the Census. … Unfortunately, the Census data has become very intricate, very personal, a lot of the questions that are asked. I know for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won’t be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn’t require any information beyond that.

And rightfully so. There’s no reason to answer additional questions.

But the left (including “Think Progress”, Ed Schultz, and various leftist blogs) is attacking Bachmann for “breaking the law”.

For the first six censuses (1790-1840) enumerators recorded only the names of the heads of household and a general demographic accounting of the remaining members of the household.

Let’s go back to that and nothing more. In the case of the census, Bachmann is spot on.

The views expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the RLC.
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  • http://www.mi.rlc.org Daniel Sheill

    Are you lifting this material from Dondero’s blog? The story about transfats is also quite similar to the one Dondero did.

  • http://vulcanliberty.blogspot.com/ Bob Giramma

    The US Constitution says, “The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.”

    Congress could conceivably argue that the the phrase “such Manner as they shall by Law direct” gives them authority to ask whatever questions they want. I wish the Constitution were more restrictive by authorizing head counting only.

  • Arnie Kennedy

    I suggest if your going to make a comment about the Census you put information or at least examples of the questions that people think are offensive. I for one like having more information in the census that just head of household. In doing family genealogy over the years census information has been invaluable in moving the family along regarding locations and helping discover past generations. This information is only available to the general population after 70 years so the concern is not what will the neighbors do with the data but what will the government do with the data. If that is really a concern elect someone else to represent you.

  • Wendy Rodrich

    I agree with Daniel Sheill.

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