When Quirinius was Governing Syria

The other day I got a notice telling me that I’d be getting a census form in the mail. It sternly warned me that not filling it out was a violation of the law. Whatever. I shredded the notification letter.

The census finally arrived today. Not that I was waiting for it. It’s just one more thing on my to-do list. Now I get the whole distribution of the House of Representatives thing—I know this is important. And I can almost buy the whole write down your age thing if they’re hoping the eventual Social Security debacle might be avoided (hint: nope). But the census has nothing to do with my race, ethnic background or whether I own my home, and if so, does it have a mortgage. Hello? Is the Congress thinking of taxing me more based on these factors. And if I were Hispanic, why does the Census Bureau need to know if I’m from Mexican, Puerto Rican, Salvadoran, Cuban, or other Latino background? Are they going to base their international diplomatic policies on that? I’m sorely tempted to write in Salvacublatarican. But, you know, that would be breaking the law.

They also have a note informing the filler-outer of the form that all information is confidential. I’m sure it is, until someone hacks it. Cal’s had his identity stolen before. And I had an employee of the Social Security agency tell me that identity theft is pretty much a crap shoot. If someone wants your number, they can get it. Why? Because everything is so very secure.

I did like one thing. On the back, in fine print, is an address where you can send your comments on the burden of this paperwork. Hmm. I’m not sure I feel “burdened.” In fact they did give me a blog topic. But I do prefer the government mind their own business...like balancing the budget or dealing with the deficit.