Posted on 04/07/2010 12:06:07 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Whether two people are considered married does not affect the enumeration one bit.
Of course it does; it always has - for obvious reasons. Because marriage has always been around, governments have had to recognize it for the purpose of staying OUT of it - freedom from testimony against your SPOUSE, inheritance issues, child rearing rights, common property rights, etc.
I honestly don't understand this ridiculous argument.
Only, it's no longer just and "enumeration" but a political tool.
Nor should it. The census counts persons, not citizens.
You’re just wrong on your history. Marriage wasn’t recognized by the State in common-law countries until 1753 with Lord Hardwicke’s Marriage Act in most of the UK. Before then there was no government recognition of marriage whatsoever. Marriage was recognized by the Church. In 1863 in the UK the requirement of a religious ceremony was removed creating civil marriage. Each state in the US has various laws but civil marriage generally came about in the 1800’s.
If the census data is used for the allocation of members of the House of Representatives based on population, this means districts with a disproportionate number of illegal immigrants and other aliens would be disproportionately represented in the Congress (especially considering numbers anywhere from 12 to 40 million of illegals).
Whenther you consider that fewer Citizens would warrant a Representative in those districts so enumerated, or that it would take more citizens in districts without that number of aliens present, the effect is the same: some are more represented than others.
Similarly, the allocation of tax dollars based upon populations which are composed of people who are not citizens and who may well not pay any taxes at all is unfair to those districts which are primarily composed of Citizens who pay taxes.
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