Comment by bee_rider
1 day ago
I’d be more interested in giving my state detailed info, letting them run programs. The country can have aggregate data.
1 day ago
I’d be more interested in giving my state detailed info, letting them run programs. The country can have aggregate data.
That works great for real states, but some states are just three mining companies in a trenchcoat.
The history of the VRA suggests that several states simply cannot be trusted to do that for all their residents.
This federal administration also cannot be trusted. Perhaps the solution is that both the states and the feds run separate censuses so that any broad stroke manipulation or blind spots can be noticed and reconciled.
Something to check or balance power maybe.
The feds have smart people who find the levers to work to get municipal, county, state and private data via voluntary/“voluntary” disclosure.
That would probably not be constitutional. I don't think the states are unable to run their own census, but the Constitution requires a federal one.
How much data is needed to fulfill the constitutional requirement?
That's a different question. Others have addressed why the census enumerates various things. The first census in 1790 enumerated the name of every head of household and the number of free white men age 16 and over, free white males under 16, free white women, other free persons and slaves in each household. An assistant was designated for each state.
https://www.archives.gov/files/research/census/1790/1790cens...