Re: Census flashbacks

cactusgal · ‎12-28-2011

Back in the early 1900's census questions asked for names, rent or own, marital status, your age, at what age were you first married, where were you born and your parents. How much is your house worth, can you read or write. What language do you speak. Are you working, what kind of work do you do. And the list goes on, I'am surprised they didn't ask what blood type are you. I do a lot of family history and I see plenty of census records.

ROMARY · ‎04-28-2010

Without going into detail (pun intended), I don't think it's a good idea. (Long form)

'More or less', 'Right or wrong', 'In general', and 'Just thinking out loud ' (as usual).

suzyQ3 · ‎03-09-2010

Income and other type questions are important to the government, not for nefarious uses but to gain an understanding of the populace and how that factors into policy. Knowing the number of people living in the country is just the base line.

I have no qualms about the census.

~Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

bathina · ‎03-14-2010

They want financial information because it gives them an idea of income by areas and where federal funds need to be allocated. If by freebies, you mean school funding and allocations for health care, well, I'm sorry for you. Those are things needed to promote the general welfare of the citizenry which is also in the Constitution. Read it sometime.

suzyQ3 · ‎03-09-2010

@bathina wrote:
They want financial information because it gives them an idea of income by areas and where federal funds need to be allocated. If by freebies, you mean school funding and allocations for health care, well, I'm sorry for you. Those are things needed to promote the general welfare of the citizenry which is also in the Constitution. Read it sometime.

@bathina, I'm sorry for all of us that come up against this narrow-minded thinking.

~Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle~ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Porcelain · ‎02-19-2014

The government has access to all this info about you already. But it's in lots of different locations. They do need to know the current condition of our population in order to govern us fairly.

It's much more efficient for us to provide the info about ourselves. We can provide more accurate and up-to-date data about ourselves.

Would you rather the federal government gathered and aggregated all of this info without your knowledge of all the items and wthout your individual input? This is the transparency most of us claim we want.

When you’re accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.
"Power without love is reckless and abusive, and love without power is sentimental and anemic." - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr

Anonymous032819 · ‎03-29-2019

@cactusgal wrote:
Back in the early 1900's census questions asked for names, rent or own, marital status, your age, at what age were you first married, where were you born and your parents. How much is your house worth, can you read or write. What language do you speak. Are you working, what kind of work do you do. And the list goes on, I'am surprised they didn't ask what blood type are you. I do a lot of family history and I see plenty of census records.

And just how much harder would that geneological research be without those census?

They are a wealth of information when it comes to learning about the lives of our ancestors.

I find it facinating to see how much their home or rent was,what they did for a living,etc.

To me, it makes them more "human", more "alive", more "real".

Too bad not everybody is interested in the history of their family.

The Sky looks different when you have someone you love up there.

sunshine45 · ‎03-09-2010

@sunshine 919 wrote:
@bathina wrote:
The census is a constitutional requirement. I have no issue being accounted for, nor do I have an issue answering the questions. But then again, I'm not a person who lives in fear of the government.
I dont think its fear, if we just need to be accounted for then they should just need names and how many people in our household, why would they need financial stuff. I am sure many people do not fill them out at all.

Income. We ask questions about the funds a person receives from various sources to create statistics about income, assistance, earnings, and poverty status.

********************************************
"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing." - Albert Einstein

Nuttmeg · ‎03-09-2010

@esmerelda wrote:
@Nuttmeg wrote:
I received a long census form in 2010, and then other separate forms a bit later. I just filled them out and sent them back.
Being counted, may help your community get funds for schools, park or to replace aging roads and bridges.
@Nuttmeg Thank you for making my point.

The only thing the census was created to “give” us is representation in the House of Representatives.

I agree, that too. I live in a urban city and children need to be counted to build new schools.

hckynut · ‎03-10-2010

@bathina wrote:
The census is a constitutional requirement. I have no issue being accounted for, nor do I have an issue answering the questions. But then again, I'm not a person who lives in fear of the government.

@bathina

I'm with you.

hckynut

hckynut(john)