Filling out the U.S. Census form is one of the easiest things you'll ever be asked to do as a responsible citizen. And it's one of the most important.
People all over America are receiving Census questionnaires in the mail, these days, with requests to fill them out and get them turned back in as quickly as possible.
Inexplicably, some people won't bother. Maybe they'll think it is too much trouble — which isn't the case, incidentally; the form can't take more than five or 10 minutes to complete. Or maybe they don't realize how important it is that the federal government have the information from each individual and family in America.
It's important, in the first place, because it provides population information that is the basis for each state's representation in Congress.
When the nation was being formed, the founding fathers had this conflict to resolve: The bigger, more populous states, such as New York and Virginia, wanted representation in Congress based on population, so they would have an advantage over the smaller states, such as Rhode Island and Delaware.
The smaller states, on the other hand, argued that they were just as important as the big states and should have equal representation. A person in Rhode Island shouldn't be punished for where he was born and raised any more than a person from New York should be rewarded for that accident of birth.
The brilliant compromise, of course, formed the Senate and the House of Representatives — the upper and lower houses. Each state has two senators, but the House is based on each state's population.
So every 10 years, the Census gives us new, up-to-date population figures on which to base our representation. New York used to be the most populous state and thereby had the most influence in the House. It has since been passed by California and Texas but is still fairly comfortably ahead of Florida.
If New Yorkers fail to fill out their Census forms, one of two things will happen: Either the Census Bureau will have to send out more workers, at a higher cost to taxpayers, to find as many delinquents as possible; or people will go uncounted and their state will lose further clout.
State representation will also be affected and in the same way. If people are unaccounted for in this region, the region will see its already meager population status further deteriorate, and we will have bigger, sparser districts than we now have.
But government is not the only area affected by the Census.
Population figures are used to determine a myriad of services and aid flowing to a region, including hospitals, job training, schools, senior centers, public-works projects and emergency services.
Fill out the form. You'll be surprised at how easy it is. And it will keep our region and our state getting our correct share of vital representation and services.
Opinion
March 18, 2010
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