Counting

You may have heard that certain "Tea Party" types--and even a U.S. Congress(wo)man or two--are deathly afraid of the attack on liberty known as the U.S. Census. They're convinced that questions about, say, race are not something the government has any reason to ask and thus it must be unconstitutional (generally defined among that crowd as "something with which I disagree). The question of where in the Constitution it says the government can ask your race in the Census came up today. And, in fairness, it's an interesting question.

But as anyone who's taken some basic U.S. history or government classes knows, the Constitution did explicitly require that race be reported to it. Why? Because we didn't originally count everybody the same way:

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.

If the government didn't know your race for the first 70-odd years of its existence, it might've had to round upwards and count people of every race as a whole human being. Clearly that wouldn't do so they had (and were empowered by the Constitution) to include race in the count.

"But," you might protest, "that language was stripped out after the War of Northern Aggression!" Certainly, but the second section of the Fourteen Amendment merely takes away the necessity (for taxation and apportionment purposes) of asking your race. It doesn't now forbid the government from asking. And since the precedent was already set that they can and did ask demographic questions, one would think an amendment taking away that power would have to do so explicitly.

What's the moral? Merely that I suspect many of these Patriots are not nearly as familiar with history or the Constitution as they'd have you believe.

Also, don't forget to return your Census forms.