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According to what I read & hear, the forms
for the 2010 United States Census will be appearing this month in our
mail boxes. They would like to
have them back by April 1st. I write here to encourage you
to fill the thing out & stick it in the mail to them. That way no census worker will appear
on your doorstep to ask for your census information.
It is important that we complete this census as
accurately as possible for a variety of reasons. For one, the founders of our nation
started it in 1790 as a way of knowing how many humans lived in their
brand new republic & allowing them to apportion the number of
representatives to the U.S. Congress from each state. We have a total of 435
representatives, & as populations go down, states will lose some
representatives; when a state gains population, representatives
increase. Texas stands to gain
seats in Congress this time around.
Another good reason is that the population
figures determine the federally-assisted funding each state gets for
its programs, things like education, infrastructure, fish &
wildlife, crop disaster, public health, & programs which aid the
elderly. In fiscal year 2008 Tom
Green County received $149,491,718.00 in federal funding for 42
different programs that benefit all of us in one way or another. It’s a way of getting back some of
the money we sent to Washington as our income taxes.
Thirdly, while not exactly a reason to fill out
the census form, it is easier this year than it ever was, 10 questions
total. How many people live at
this address? Was there anyone
else staying here on April 1st? Is this residence owned or
rented? May we telephone you if
we don’t understand your answers?
Then it asks for each person’s name & gender, age &
birthdate. It asks if the person
is Hispanic & of which race [for the census “Hispanic” is not a
racial category; it’s an ethnic background.] Finally it wants to know if the person
sometimes lives or stays somewhere else [vacation home, college
housing, etc.] That’s it.
Some folks balk at telling the federal government
anything, but face it, folks, just about all that information can be
had by checking other information sources easily available, especially
now that we have the omnipresent internet. Besides that, by law the census
bureau cannot share your information with anyone, including other
federal agencies & law enforcement entities, & they must hold
it confidential for 72 years!!!
What does this have to do with faith &
religion, you ask? Well, the Lord
did say we should “render unto Caesar.” & those program funds do
benefit some of the “least among us” of whom we are our
“brother’s/sister’s keepers.”
Think about it.
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