When the Census Clowns Come Knocking, Remind Them the U.S. Constitution Enumerates Exactly What You Need to Answer; and Nothing More
I love my country, but I am appalled by my government
2.8.2010
Written by Russell L. Magarity
Edited by Chris P. Janelli
While the constitutionally mandated ten-year census seems innocuous enough, the 2010 census is boiling over about right to privacy, especially with "dead fish" Rahm Emanuel juicing up the issue by requiring there be a GPS confirmation of your house coordinates. Doesn’t it make you wonder why the government needs this "GPS targeting" information? It’s just a Census for Pete's sake, unless your home becomes a terrorist hideout and needs to be targeted for a drone attack. Couldn’t they have simply saved a few bucks and used Google Earth, MapQuest and cross referenced with all of the public (and not so public) directory information available? We all get our Social Security statements and IRS notices, so why do they really need to GPS us in the government crosshairs? But I digress.
The 2010 census is about to begin. What happened to the simple constitutional mandate “to enumerate how many citizens live where, for the purpose of apportionment of tax revenues?” I don't think we the people really think the government can keep any kind of secret, or not use all the information they think they should have on us. And they are using this census to fulfill this unspecified objective; that scary. We should be rather more suspicious, along the line of the Japanese Americans in WWII who were rounded up using the census data, to say nothing of the (Democrat) states and counties doing a little redistricting when the voting records don't quite suit their incumbency objectives, or support their progressive social agenda.
No thanks Uncle Sam, you can keep your Census.
So what is the law?
First, let’s touch on what the procedure are for collecting information. You may be selected for either the short form of intrusively gotten information, or be one of the lucky one in six people chosen for the American Community Survey, better known as the long form. Both of these come in the mail. However, if you are like the many Americans who wonder why the heck Big Brother needs all this personal information, you will simply throw it in the trash and forgetaboutit.
It’s when you don't fill it out and return it, that Guido and Gumba aren't happy (no slight to the Italians on the list), because this precipitates the collection agency like calls at dinner time that begin with “your civic responsibility.” Depending on how many times you hang up on them, or tell the caller to "XYZ off", you may receive more personal attention. In fact, someone will actually show up at your door. It’s the census clown.
These traveling census clowns are the ACORN types you see on TV; they are not the guy or gal who is required to get your GPS coordinates within 40 feet of your front door. You don’t even need to be home for that bit of government intrusion (you tax dollars at work again).
So back to the clowns who will show up at your front door. To stay out of trouble:
1. DO NOT let them enter your home; badge or no badge.
2. DO NOT refuse to answer the question. Notice I said question (as in singular), not questions. Refusing is what brings on the threats. Hollow threats, but nonetheless annoying.
Refusing triggers the penalty provisions. The census clowns will be quoting, "Pursuant to Title 13, U.S.C., Section 221, refusing to provide the requested information or willfully neglecting to complete either survey subjects you to a fine of not more than $100.00. Willfully giving information that is false subjects you to a fine of not more than $500.00."
However, the Census Bureau website goes beyond this quoting, “Title 18 U.S.C. Section 3571 and Section 3559, in effect amends Title 13 U.S.C. Section 221 by changing the fine for anyone over 18 years old who refuses or willfully neglects to complete the questionnaire or answer questions posed by census takers from a fine of not more than $100 to not more than $5,000.”
This statement is DECEPTIVE as it fails to inform the public that the $5,000.00 fine referenced in section 3571 is not a simple fine; it is a POST CONVICTION fine that only applies to an individual who has been charged and convicted of a federal crime defined in section 3559. Unless an individual has been charged and convicted of some criminal offense connected to the Census and the crime falls within section 3559, this $5,000.00 fine does not apply.
Just like taxes, it is not unlawful to avoid a tax, but it is illegal to evade a tax although the Census hardly lends itself to IRS Gestapo tactics. Same principle here, though DO NOT refuse to answer questions openly. Find a way to avoid answering the questions that exceed the constitutional purpose of the Census. The constitutional authority for the census rests with Article 1, section 2, which states:
“Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. (Note: The previous sentence in parentheses was modified by the 14th Amendment, section 2.) The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; .......”
There are lots of places to start with the census clowns. For example, ask them to show you by what authority they have the constitutional right to ask anything beyond what is in the constitution itself. Article 1, section 2 specifically states a simple body count. Anything beyond that is not only none of their business, but is unconstitutional.
In answer to their attempted intimidation tactics brought on by your baiting them with refusing to answer further questions, reiterate that you are not refusing to answer what is constitutionally required, but simply unwilling to answer any of the unconstitutional questions.
If they persist, tell them their attempting to force you to answer these unconstitutional questions is a violation of your constitutional right under the 4th amendment - Search and Seizure – and to require such answers without a warrant is illegal and unconstitutional. Furthermore, since you don't know how the government intends to use this additional personal information, you have the 5th amendment constitutional right to remain silent.
In case you’re getting nervous about not complying, understand that no one in our lifetime or before is on record as having been prosecuted for not filling out a Census form. The Census Bureau's own website even says:
“THE CENSUS BUREAU IS NOT A LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. WE TRY TO MAKE AMERICANS UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF COMPLETING THE CENSUS, BUT WE DON’T TRY TO ENFORCE THOSE PENALTIES.”
With regard to GPS targeting of your private residence, if you catch one of them and challenge them you will be handed a printed explanation referring you to Sec. 223, Title 13, U.S. Code, Chapter 7, Subtitle 2, which explains the penalties for refusing to provide names and statistics of occupants when asked for by a census taker. This only applies when they are taking a census, (which will not be taken until probably March or April this year). Their print out will also explain the penalty for refusing to answer questions for a census is up to a $500 fine per Sec. 223, Title 13, U.S. Code, Chapter 7, Subtitle 2. Relax. The best I can tell the Fed has NO AUTHORITY whatsoever to paint your front door, much less the front doors of every private residence in America. Still, that is exactly what they are doing.
So what do you intent to do about it?
Obviously, you have to make your own decision, but this is what others have done according to information found on the subject from a number of legal and activist websites. On March 28, 2000, US District Judge Melinda Harmon granted a temporary restraining order against prosecution of any American who chooses not to answer questions other than the number of people living at their address. So at this point in time:
YOU ARE FULLY WITHIN YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS TO REFUSE TO ANSWER ANY QUESTION EXCEPT FOR THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN YOUR HOME.
You DO NOT have to give your name, your ethnicity, your gender, your sexual orientation, or whether or not you are a legal resident or citizen, or even whether you legally reside at the address.
There are lots of web sites regarding the census and why Americans should not simply feed the government with all of their private and personal information. Here is one example: http://www.lizmichael.com/census.htm
Should a census taker actually come to your door, another suggestion is to inform them that asking any question other than the number of people in the home may be grounds for personal contempt of court, citing Judge Harmon's ruling, and that if they persist they may be subject to fines and imprisonment.
You can also inform the census clown that they are trespassing upon your property and must leave immediately or face arrest. They have no inherent right to be on your property, even though they are from the government. In Boyd v. United States (116 U.S. 616, 630), the Fourth and Fifth Amendments were described as protection against all governmental invasions “of the sanctity of a man's home and the privacies of life.”
The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void. Unconstitutional law bears no power to enforce, it purports to settle as if it never existed, for unconstitutionality dates from the enactment of such a law, and not such time as branded in an open court of law. It confers no rights; it imposes no duties; affords no protection; it creates no office; it is in legal contemplation, as inoperative as though it had never been passed. No courts are bound to uphold it and no persons are bound to obey it. (Source: 16 Am Jur 256.)
So for you Constitutional patriots and souls who believe in civil disobedience in the face of government bureaucracy and its overreaching of the power specifically authorized to it under the U.S. Constitution, you might want to consider this DECLARATION in the face of the census clown:
DECLARATION
"I hereby affirm that the provisions of Title 13 requiring me to disclose my race, personal financial data, birth date, or any other personal, private information to the Bureau of the Census, an agency of the United States government, constitutes an unreasonable and unwarranted search of my person, house, papers, and/or effects; and a governmental invasion of the sanctity of my home and the privacies of life. As such, these provisions violate the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, and are thus wholly void and I am not bound to obey them.
I have completed only those sections of the Census form, or will answer questions, pertaining to that which is constitutionally mandated and actually enumerated in the US Constitution, as follows:
1. The actual number of people living at the address printed on the form, excluding untaxed Native Americans;
2. Age of each person in accordance with US Const. Amendment XIV, Section 2
3. Sex of each person, in accordance with US Const. Amendment XIV, Section 2.
I have thus fulfilled my obligation to the attainment of the actual enumeration of the populace of the United States.
Any fine or other sanction that is levied by any office or organization stemming from the unconstitutional provisions of Title 13 in connection with my response to this or any other Census-related questioning will be challenged in a court of law."
About Russ Magarity & Chris Janelli
Jackson, Wyoming Distressed Patriot Russell Magarity and Chris Janelli, Chief Distressed Patriot, have been business associates and close friends since working together at Chase Manhattan Asia in Hong Kong. Russ grew up in Cuba and Panama and graduated from High School in Peru. He received a BA in International Relations from the University of Oklahoma (Norman), an M.B.A. from the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara (Mexico), and a Masters in International Management (with Distinction) from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird).
Russ spent his career with Chase running countries and managing corporate finance businesses in Brazil, Mexico, Hong Kong and throughout SE Asia. Prior to joining Chase, he served in the US Navy for 9 years first as a Midshipman and Naval Aviator. As a carrier pilot, he served 3 tours in Vietnam and flew over 250 missions.
Learn more about Chris at: http://www.distressedpatriots.us/organizers.html
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