The Census is coming

There's been a lot of hype concerning the upcoming 2010 Census.

I vaguely remember the 2000 Census. We were living in Las Vegas. A Latina woman came to the door and asked me a handful of questions. I don't even remember what the questions were. And I can't remember if Daniel was born or not (his b-day is 2 June). I told you it was a vague memory! I do remember feeling a little bit of excitement to be part of the process. I was being counted, and not just as a child in a household. This was a sure sign of independence! (OK, maybe it wasn't THAT momentous, but you get the idea.)

I can't believe that it's been a whole decade since the last census. I don't feel like I've gotten that much older. But now we've got more than a handful of kids and a whole lot more pages of journal entries. So I guess time does go on.

But back to my point of this post. I've heard the PSA's from the government agencies encouraging the populations to fill out their census forms and send them in. Individual cities are begging their residents to cooperate in order to get their full funding possibilities.

Then I hear the other side. I think this side is mostly "anti-government." (I've yet to hear an opinion from a middle-of-the-road source.) These people are crying foul and claiming this census is against the constitution, that the big shots are getting too nosy and it's no one's business what color their skin is. Apparently, Rush is telling everyone to write AMERICAN where it asks for race.

Through all the arguments and complaints, I constantly think of all the census records I've searched through while doing genealogy. While I want to beat the tar out of the workers with bad handwriting, I've been very grateful for the information that's been on the forms. I'm glad to know that THIS particular "John Doe" was from Norway because I'm looking for "John Doe" from Sweden. And it's been very helpful to have the ages of their whole households so that I can be sure I'm following the right person throughout the years. The fact that they worked for a certain business (ex. railroad) is not only helpful to trace the family, but it's also great for family history stories.

So when the 2010 Census comes to my mailbox, I'm not going to write any of my own answers. I'm making no statement to anyone who cares when I refuse to tell them I'm a white female, aged 36 years. I have a SSN...it's already "out" there.

If the questions start to get too personal, and I haven't seen anything to prove either way, I may decline to answer. But it would have to be a really personal question. Instead, I'll be thinking, what will my grandchildren's children (if the 2nd Coming hasn't come by then) need or want to know about me.

I'm more worried about the cranky guy down the lane who wants to sue than the government finding out too much about me.