Through the Broken Window

While at work today, I was listening to some folks from the Census Bureau (both central and regional offices) and they were speaking about the changes in the formal census -- from a once every ten years to a random sample selection of about 1:8 households in five year cycles. By the way, this doesn't replace the decennial, it simply replaces the "long form" from the decennial.

Anyways, Upon further though, I realized that I am not really a fan of any attempts by the government to limit and record the mobility and movement of individual citizens. Essentially, if I am not doing anything wrong, why are you keepin tabs on me?

So... I was thinking that it is rather inappropriate for the government to physically mandate individuals to fill out this form of personal information by means of a Census count. It is not like some simple form either. It is sixty questions long and covers a wide variety of topics that most people would not voluntarily pass over, if it weren't for governmental coercion. FYI, fines range from $100-$5,000 depending on the descretion of the DOJ.

What do you all think? Interestingly enough, I feel the same way about identification mandates, limits to mobility and travel (like closed borders), and anything else that makes me pass along information I would not otherwise give.

Is that a matter of privacy and personal property, or am I just being paranoid?