The racial question is the one I will not fill out. I go out of my way to not answer racial questions, even to the point of making people throw out forms which they have already check off my race and tell them to do it again without that information. I want to blind the beast of government to racial information to make it harder for them to do any racial hijinks.
I answered that question because we live in a rural community with a Hispanic population tied to farming. Yeah, I know. I wanted the information out there so be maintain a correct balance between Whites, Black and Hispanic.
I made a big scene at my closing when I crossed off the race box that had been checked by the mortgage broker on my mortgage application. My lawyer said it’s no big deal; I said that the question is optional and that I will not be part of some social re-engineering scam. I want the checked box crossed off. Everyone rolled their eyes, but I didn’t care. I told them that my race has nothing to do my financial qualifications for obtaining this or any other loan.
My census worker is a nice guy and well-known in the community so i didn’t get snippy with him. he agreed with me that the race questions, do I own my own home etc. were ridiculous. I didn’t answer them. Just my name and age and how many people live here.
I thought instead of all those alternatives for your race, they should just ask ‘What color is your skin?’ and then provide a color chart you could match up your skin with. Like those tooth colors on a piece of clear plastic when you get your teeth whitened.
I never filled out the race question before this year.
This year I answered “Other: American”.
That and the number of residents (one) is all they get from me.
There is this to consider:
The majority of people who are complaining about the intrusion are white, conservative, etc, possible tea party affiliates. Though I did read an article in which the Asian American legal defense league (or some such) was not highly recommending compliance as they were not properly reassured that the information would not be used against them in the future (wwii anyone?).
If such people are under-counted, the possibility of a nasty surprise for gerrymandered supposed democrat districts at voting time is amusing.
But it is more likely that under reporting such numbers will result in the passage of more stupid laws regarding racial quotas and voting district language regulations and what not.
If the majority is determined to no longer be a majority because it willfully underreported its numbers, it may find itself in worse shape long term, because you can bet that this whole tripe about protecting minorities is a one way street.