With anti-government sentiment growing among conservatives across the country, there is worry they may refuse to take part in the 2010 census. In doing so they risk losing congressional representation, which is assigned strictly by population. It\u2019s something Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) understands all too well. Based on the 2000 Census, Utah missed picking up an additional seat on Capitol Hill by a count of roughly 800 people. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to fill out the forms if we want to be represented,\u201d warns Chaffetz. He also understands why some are hesitant to take part. \u201cI have been one of the more critical people of the census, but it is one of the things that\u2019s outlined in the Constitution,\u201d Chaffetz says. Though he finds the process has flaws, Chaffetz urges conservatives to take part and adds, \u201cWe can work to improve the census later.\u201d<\/p>\n
Census Bureau Director Robert Groves has seen the hesitation as well. \u201cI haven\u2019t met many people who like to fill out forms,\u201d Groves acknowledges. He also understands that the current political climate may impact participation. \u201cThere are folks who believe that the federal government is too big, that federal spending is out of control,\u201d Groves says. However, he warns that by opting out of the 2010 Census citizens risk losing the ability to impact who represents them on Capitol Hill and how their tax dollars are spent. Groves says the Census Bureau is a \u201cnon-partisan statistical agency\u201d that is independent of any political use of census data. \u201cOur job is to count everyone in the country,\u201d Groves says.<\/p>\n
The Census Bureau has launched broad outreach efforts to a wide range of groups, including a focus on members of the lesbian\/gay\/bi-sexual\/transgender community. A variety of ads and testimonials urge LGBT citizens to complete their forms, even going so far as recommending that same sex couples identify themselves as married if they like. One ad states: \u201cFor the first time, same sex married couples will be counted. This includes couples who may live where their relationship is not recognized.\u201d A number of the testimonials also talk about using the 2010 Census to help achieve the political aims of the LGBT community, by making sure they garner maximum funding for programs they are most interested in. With that in mind, conservatives who opt out may wind up losing ground on issues they care most about. \u201cIt\u2019s critical that Republicans and conservatives participate,\u201d Chaffetz urges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With anti-government sentiment growing among conservatives across the country, there is worry they may refuse to take part in the 2010 census. In doing so they risk losing congressional representation, which is assigned strictly by population. It\u2019s something Republican Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) understands all too well. Based on the 2000 Census, Utah missed picking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4741,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-520645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4741"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=520645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/520645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=520645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=520645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=520645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}