re: #174 WinterCat

That was very true. America had been attacked and people were frightened. It was a terrible thing. Earl Warren, who eventually became the Chief Justice, and was California’s Atty General and then Governor — and a very liberal man — was highly supportive of internment at the time. In later years he came to deeply regret this position. Times of war are different from times of peace and hindsight is 20/20.

Yeah, but, aren’t we supposed to, you know, learn from history, from our mistakes and try to change?
Warren’s support of internment was despicable and he regretted it. I think the take away here, just might be that it is something we need to be very very careful doing or even thinking of in the future.

As for all the comments about the “intrusive” nature of the census:
Not to rain on the parade by actually thinking about it for a moment, but just maybe, perhaps, there is a at least semi-valid reason for the questions?

100 years ago, the number and age of household members was practically all that was needed, city’s and counties did not disburse funds in the way they do now, in the amounts they do now, and never had any idea of the needs of a “modern’ society or community.
So for the toilet question, it’s easy to make fun of but the real reason is pretty serious: from the amount of toilets and baths in a house means a certain amount of water used can be extrapolated, therefore given honest data, the need for water to communities and city’s can be gaged, and adjusted. Dams or aqueducts may need to be built because of it, and so on.
The size of houses reflect the amount of electricity needed and therefore the power grids be be adjusted accordingly, and so on.

It’s the only time that a concerted effort goes out to find how the country is changing, not only demographically, but physically. Data comes in from local utilities yes, but with the census the data can be collated and better understood, and the new information used to make things better for everyone.
I’m kind of in awe of the effort it takes, really and I think, (nerd that I guess that I am) it’s a pretty interesting undertaking.

All this in addition to the historical aspect to the thing…. looking back at census results from 150, 100, or pre-war gives a historian valuable insight to the way the country was made up, and I kind of think the I’m doing my part in giving future historians information about how we lived and changed over the course of my life.

That so many want to lie, and ignore for reasons that border on anti-government conspiracy theory’s like Bachmann, a elected Representative, for god’s sake, does not mean that information won’t be gleaned, it’ll be just the opposite, the takeaway will be that we were in a fragile period of intense distrust of the government and suspicious to the point of ludicrousness.

It’s the damn census, it’s not a plot to take over the country.

Rant over, thanks.