Even in an moment of anonymity
Please, save us from governments that want to save us. The census question refuses to die, and I’m glad. In what strange altered state of mind did current officials decide that asking questions on a census form was intrusive?
Can you spell “secret”? It’s a six letter word, not a four letter one. Yes, the census form contains your name. No, it will not be “made public” until long after you cease to matter. I’ve used census data, a lot. The old stuff keeps genealogists happy. The new stuff generates really cool tables in Excel; completely stripped of personal identifiers. Not the same thing.
It isn’t too late to turn this ship called “stupidity” around. After all, this is the government. The people that can call elections at the drop of a hat (please, do!) The people that can rewrite tax law in a manner that leaves me bleeding pennies. I’m sure that if the forms need to be reprinted, it can be done AND it can be delivered before the next enumeration day.
There are going to be court challenges. There is time to get it through the system. It does matter. In fact, here’s an open invitation to anyone who happens to be reading here (and that counts the Google gang). Feel free to write or email your elected representative. Make their day: some of them get NO attention from their constituents. Not their fault, when anonymity is their game. Just remind them that census returns are also AS GOOD AS ANONYMOUS for close to a century. That should reassure the addled among them.
