On 02/20/2010 07:56 PM, fznidar...@aol.com wrote: > > > I have never committed a crime in my life. It says I have to answer > all of these questions by law. If I do not answer this will be my > first crime of violation of the law. If take my amendment rights of > Unreasonable search and Seizure. What will be my fine and jail > time?
First, I'm pretty sure that it's a misdemeanor at worst, and there isn't any jail time, there probably isn't any fine, and you won't get a criminal record as a result of failing to respond to the census. Second, speaking from experience, what they *actually* do if you fail to respond is follow up with another letter or phone call, and if you stubbornly ignore them, AND if enough other people stubbornly ignore them so that they can't get decent figures for your area, they *MIGHT* send someone to your house to ask you, up close and personal, who you are, and all those other questions you didn't want to answer. They don't want to punish you; they just want you to answer their questions. But, really, they probably won't actually do anything. So, don't lose any sleep over it. On the other hand, responding to the census is probably a "public good" which you really ought to do. You also may benefit your community, your particular ethnic group, your political party, etc, by responding, and letting the Government know you're a member of those entities. "Strength in numbers" is very important in a democracy. Filling out the census form is, quite literally, another way of voting: You are voting on the importance of every group of which you tell them you're a member. One reason local communities get all excited about getting people to respond to the census is that their share of federal funds under various acts depends on their population, and that's determined by the outcome of the census. Two other very important things which are determined by the census are the number of state representatives for each community, and the number of congressional representatives from each state.
