the only questions I object to on my on my census form are those dealing with race and culture. If we are all created equal, why does it matter what race I am or what culture I look to?

If we are to be treated equally then let us do away with such questions and let us truly be equal in deeds, words, and actions.

In this day and age, many of us are bi-cultural/racial, even multi-cultural/racial; our private lives having taken the best of our ancestors and incorporating them into our own uniquely American culture. Why can’t we just be American?

It would help if they counted us in our districts, and not nearby Democratic districts.

See, e.g. Redford Township, Michigan.

I filled mine out, anyway.

I agree with your argument up to a point. If we are debating conservatives returning the census in a consistently conservatively represented district, I agree. However, as a conservative living in a large, chronically liberal city, how does it make sense for me to pad their representation and funding? If I (and enough like-minded conservatives) do not return the census, my city of New York will be under-counted and, thus, under-represented and under-funded.

Yesterday I posted this on Redstate regarding the census (Dear Mr. Census: Aren’t We All African Americans?”:

http://www.redstate.com/raginpatriot/

Heck, if you can beat the racial preferences charlatans, might as well join them! ; -)

With all due respect, since when do politicians in DC respect the Constitution?

Yeah, 14 days before April 15th, it’ll do the heart good to fill out the census forms as some form of Patriotic Duty, as Americans continue to get raped by their elected officials.

Thanks for the reminder, Congressman. I now need to go sign my tax forms to remind myself that we are just grist for the mill of someone else’s entitlement.

Do as you will with the rest.

But fill out the enumeration. That’s a constitutional matter.

my kids names, my wife’s names.. my phone number? I don’t think so.. I get enough calls and spam as it is, thanks.

I’m already leery about the feds wanting to know too much about me..

Main Entry: enu·mer·ate
Pronunciation: \i-?n(y)ü-m?-?r?t\
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Form(s): enu·mer·at·ed; enu·mer·at·ing
Etymology: Latin enumeratus, past participle of enumerare, from e- + numerare to count, from numerus number
Date: 1616
1 : to ascertain the number of : count
2 : to specify one after another : list

— enu·mer·a·tion \-?n(y)ü-m?-?r?-sh?n\ noun

— enu·mer·a·tive \-?n(y)ü-m?-?r?-tiv, -?n(y)üm-r?-, -?n(y)ü-m?-r?-\ adjective

________________________________________________________

Congressman, your point about proper representation is well taken. That has to do with true enumeration, as defined in rather clear terms above.

But I’m having difficulty seeing how the word “enumerate” can be elastic enough to include racial makeup, let alone all those other intrusive questions.

Back in the day, of course, there was an issue with all those troublesome 3/5ths of a person needing to be counted differently, but today we really are all supposed to be equal. And we supposedly also have a right to privacy, as we’ve been told repeatedly.

I think the reluctance to return the census forms has more to do with a lack of trust in the federal government then anything else.We now have elected officials in the federal government who do not respect the Constitution or the law.

I’m not sure of the past examples of cenus forms and what questions were asked.

I’d like to know if this one is new and different by asking race information, phone numbers etc???

Here you can find Rep. Patrick McHenry voting record.

http://www.votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=21031

Not saying anything bad not saying anything good, just for knowledge.

214 days to election 2010
949 days to election 2012

and should fill out and turn in the Census forms (or wait for the worker to knock on your door if that’s your preference).

I for one will be going the “American” route. I will probably fill out the rest accurately, however I will not contribute to the continued race discrimination that our government happily encourages and participates in.

The census shouldn’t be politicized but the reality of the matter is that it is. From my discussions most of us really only have a problem with the race questions. I wrote Human on mine and tough you know what if they don’t like it. I also didn’t give them my phone number, again too bad.
Here you say, “Boycotting the census also offends me as an American patriot.”
You know what who cares if you are offended or not. Our country and our constitution are under attack from within and we’re supposed to care about you feeling slighted by a boycott that you later state no one has actually advocated for, “No one has advocated a direct boycott of the census ….”
Then you go on to tell us about all your efforts to keep ACORN out of the Census and “battle” (is that a Freudian call for violence?)
against the Obama Administrations harmful Census plans…..ok here’s an “Attaboy!” for you. You feel better now.
I know actually doing your job can be trying but you better get it through your head that the Republican party bears some of the responsibility for the situation we find ourselves in fiscally and politically.
Popping out with lessons about the Constitution will mean a lot more once the government of this country starts following it on a regular basis and not just when it suits their own selfish needs.
Also calling conservatives liars is not going to help sway their opinions. Here you say, “No, what worries me is blatant misinformation coming from otherwise well-meaning conservatives.” You realize the definition of blatant right? You are saying they are intentionally lying about the Census.
bla·tant

?/?ble?tnt/ [bleyt-nt]
–adjective
1.
brazenly obvious; flagrant: ie: a blatant lie.

Also you need to take into account that their are a whole lot of people who feel threatened and helpless over the actions of their government and may be feeling uncooperative at this time and that the decision to comply or not with the Census is the only voice they may feel they have at this time.

The Constitution isn’t a vague outline of government, nor a procedural manual. It is the instrument by which the states granted to the federal government only certain very specific powers, and prohibited the federal government from usurping additional powers from the states and/or the people.

Until Congress, the Supreme Court, and the White House begin acting within constitutional boundaries, there will be continued distrust in the motives of all three branches.

In this specific matter, enumeration means counting. That is all the Constitution allows Congress to do. It’s not an open door through which nosy social engineers may extract all manner of private information.

Sorry, the Constitution argument does not mean a hill of beans to me anymore.

No one follows or cares what the Constitution says anymore. Your ‘interpretation’ of the clause is different than mine, so I will fill it out however I want. There are no absolutes, there are not specifics, there are NO rules anymore.

That’s pretty much where we are in the US today, so deal with it…..if your not willing to take up arms and defended the Constitution from those willing to destroy it from within, then don’t try to get preachy with us about it.

The government can try and FORCE me to follow the Constitution because I have become little more than a slave, but the “contract” has been totally broken since its now a one way street.

We were told by our postmaster that if you have a P. O. Box address, you are not mailed a Census form. They then pay you a visit. If they know my physical address, to come and visit me, then why couldn’t they mail me a Census, which I would have picked up at the post office, and, mailed back. They mailed me the tax forms, why not the Census?

I can appreciate your voting record (for the most part), but this is a sore subject for a lot of folks who feels our Government is completely out of control.

Folks are just starting to become civilly disobedient. Expect more to come.

considered the Constitution to be any thing other than TP? Yes Rep McHenry, that includes many Republicans as well.

BTW, has anyone bothered to try to correct all the problems with the Census software?

There was a very good reason the 1790 census asked about race: it was essential and directly related to both taxing and representation, thanks to the 3/5 Compromise. Yes, technically that applied to slaves and not specifically to a race, but in most states, that would be pretty close to interchangeable.

Today, there’s no legitimate reason for our government to ask about race. But there’s also nothing to prevent a patriot from fully completing and returning their census form: just check “Other Race” and fill in “American”, which is every bit as much a race as is Hispanic.

Rep. McHenry is correct: we need to fill out our census forms.

Beginning with the Houston Chronicle?

Dunham, from your article states:

“There is a reason for the enthusiasm gap on the census: A number of prominent conservative and libertarian Republicans have been blasting the census for months.”

As though is the absolute truth, Representative.

1st – Right before that, the article states “Most other counties near the bottom of the list are heavily Hispanic counties along the Texas-Mexico border.” — which would include the heavily Democratic population that *wouldn’t* be responsive to “prominent conservative and libertarian Republicans.”

2nd – I submit to you liberal California, which is currently below the national response rate. They’re not big, eager fans of “prominent conservative and libertarian Republicans,” either. What other reason would explain their not returning their census.

3rd – The Chronicle is further disingenuous because this is a dated article, nearly one week old, and it has yet to update it’s information. This misleads the public, espeically when 2010census.gov provides a very handy map that gets updated everyday between 3 – 5p.

Texas is now at 46%, California’s at 49% and the national rate is at 52% — and none of this came about by die-hard conservatives begrudingly deciding to “do their duty.”

We are law-abiding citizens, sir.

It’s a mischaracterization of the conservative patriot to say Texas’s “low” — and other states’ — rates are low because we are considering boycotting or a partial fill-in. Where are the sources and the stats to support this, aside from some rhetoric the liberal mainstream media selectively choosess to overblow?

Many of us know about the $86 million price-tag that accompanies each percentage point if the response rate isn’t dropped.

It’s our money that’s going to be spent, and it behooves us to not do what is required of us.

Whatever you’re describing, it ain’t us.

Someone should be out there talking to the slackers.

You’ve come to a place of movers and shakers and you’re preaching to the choir.

With all due respect, Congressman, you need to get out of Washington DC more and spend time in the real world. We don’t see things out here the way you see things there.

We know that it doesn’t matter in the slightest if or how we fill out our census forms. It is a rigged system and the democrats own and control that system. The census is going to show what they want it to show – nothing more and nothing less.

Like most of the conservatives I know, I resent the race question. I resent it because I know that it is the only piece of information that really matters on that form. Washington doesn’t care how many people live in my house – they care what color those people are.

No one is going to lose out because people don’t send their census forms back. You can stop that scare tactic. There will be as many people in my district as the census bureau wants there to be in my district – forms or no forms.

neither does my phone number or the kind of housing I stay or my gender. The purpose is to count people so that all districts can be drawn to include approximately the same number of people so that representation is equal in numbers. There’s no way in hell that one’s race should constitutionally be a factor in doing that (not that the activists on the courts haven’t required it). Nor does one’s age or in what kind of structure they reside have any relevance to COUNTING.

If they’re counting all that stuff to determine what federal goodies to hand out then it’s not constitutionally mandated. Once you’ve told them how many people there are (helping them enumerate) you’ve fulfilled your duty.

On the other hand, if we’re playing politics then the people of Texas and other Red areas should fill out as many census forms as they like.

We just had a bill passed with official stamps and seals and certifications that the healthcare bill is going to reduce the deficit by $133 billion in 10 years. This is the same government people trust to accurately and honestly report the census numbers?

Maybe I’m just paranoid. Maybe I’m tired of being called a racist every time I oppose something Obama does. Maybe I don’t want those same people who call me a racist be the ones who decide what they are going to do based on my race.

I haven’t said I am not going to send my form in. I just haven’t decided whether to leave the race section blank or put a checkmark in every box. If they aren’t going to make race based decisions, then why do they make it a crime to not tell them what race we are?

They are sending government workers to everyone’s house (all one billion plus of them) to take pictures and fingerprints for national ID cards and a centralized database. They are collecting information about their phone use, internet use, and more.

It certainly helps put things in perspective.

Honestly, do you think the feds need this little paper form to know anything about you? Anyone really think that the government doesn’t already know everything about you? That they don’t know your phone number? Where you live? Who lives with you? Where you work and how much money you make? If they want to know, they do.

Fill it out. Send it in. Let them continue to think we are stupid enough to believe they don’t know about us unless we tell them.

Will you come be here again to answer any questions? I notice that you’ve been a member for three years and this is your only post. You come here and try to dictate how we should act and what we should do but you are not a true member of this community. This is once again Washington telling us what we should do as Americans as they (Washington) act like Cubans.
One other thing, can you take the Washington out of Washington DC and just call it DC because I’m sure the Father of our Country would not want his name on a place with all the corruption, bribes and lies!
Washington DC is a DISGRACE and it’s not the people who made it this way!

214 days to election 2010
949 days to election 2012

Have a nice day! (In your own little world outside ours!)

He famously wanted only Americans, not Afro-Americans, Italian-Americans, or even, I would assume, Native Americans.

This attitude has been lost, because of the political hay that can be made – by Deem-ocrats today – by advancing the proposition that all humanity MUST be made equal in ALL aspects of life, and that therefore the idea of race or ethnicity can be used to show an economic or intellectual inequality, which government must – somehow and illogically – resolve, in order to make life fair.

…I’m beginning to feel sorry for Rep. McHenry. I’ll bet he wonders who shook the hornet’s nest.

In truth, the nest was shaken by a great many politicians over the years, but never so hard as Obama/Reid/Pelosi have shaken it. People are awakening, taking to the streets, and trying to reclaim the America that has been eroded over the last decades, and which is now in danger of destruction at the hands of this Congress and this White House.

This mass awakening is going to be a bit unpleasant even for those on “our” side of the aisle. Some, those who wear the “R” badge but act like Lite Democrats, deserve the pain. Others, those who generally understand the limited constitutional role of government, are still going to get hit with an occasional pie, just by virtue of being in a legislative body with a lower approval rating than Tony Soprano’s family. Collateral damage, if you will.

Understanding the quickly rising distrust, fear, anger, resentment (and the vigor of the new drive to reclaim the country from the radicals) is going to be imperative for any member of Congress who really wants to be the a representative of the people. I hope Rep. McHenry is one who does understand, and will work with us.

(The comments, that is….not the original diary)

Folks, go back and read streiff’s diary about the Census. The guy worked for them in 2000. He knows of what he speaks.

Sheesh. Maybe it’s just April Fool’s day or something.

Surely you jest. Ever since ACORN and CENSUS was used together in one sentence I knew that accuracy would be the last thing this would convey.

Okay now folks, get ready for the jobs report tomorrow. This report will include the 1.3 million temporary census workers so the left is going to be banging the pots and pans that the recession is over. Just a heads up…

From the Chron:

“Polling by the Pew Research Center finds Democrats are more likely than other Americans to view the census as “very important” to the country. **Seventy-six percent of Democrats call this year’s count very important, compared with 61 percent of Republicans and independents”

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6932410.html

The Original PEW Research:

” ** Slightly higher numbers of REPUBLICANS (90%) than Democrats and independents (85% each) say THEY INTEND TO PARTICIPATE, *** but more Democrats than Republicans or independents think the census is very important for the country (**76% among Democrats, 61% among Republicans and independents).

The ratfinks at the Chronicle didn’t merit this apology, Rep McHenry.

And guess what demographic PEW anticpates will be the true hold-outs on turning in the Census?

The same group of volunteer, non-prof, zombie-Obamaites Obama just volunteered their parents to cover on their healthcare for until they’re 26.

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1538/young-people-make-up-large-proportion-census-hold-outs

We’re law-biding, we say we’re law-abiding, we INTEND on being law-abiding.

We’ll be filling in and returning that census, Sir.

There you go, Daily Kos. Keep whinnin’ while we keep law abidin’.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/3/29/852025/-The-Teabaggers-Self-Fulfilling-Prophesy-(U.S.-Census)-

Most of the questions asked are not that much different than those asked in 1790, 1800, 1810, in other words the one’s closest to the Constitution, before the Civil War and the 16th Amendment(1913) Obviously they did not ask for telephone number (which is a question I will not answer) but much of the rest is similar. Even if you own your home, your net worth, occupation, place of birth & names. If you want a bit of a shock, look up the 1790 census form to see a question they DON’T ask anymore……

I want to give Obama the least amount of information on me and my family that I can. I do NOT trust them, you all should NOT trust them. If we all hold out on the census then they can’t track us and it’ll send a a clear message that can not be ignored!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiLWfZUK4uU

and if the Census worker shows up asking additional questions ask by “penalty of law” ask for your Miranda warning… Your “Right to Remain Silent” and not answer their questions. HA!

Print out this Public Servant’s Questionnaire and demand they sign it before they ask you any questions:

http://nonais.org/techdocs/PublicServantQuestionnaire.pdf

Undoubtedly, they’ll refuse and leave.

Thank you.
ColdWarrior
No More Scozzafavas!
Act! Become a Republican precinct committeeman. NOW!

I don’t.

They have many faces, many names, and the clowns in charge of this are all in bed with them.

We as Americans are understood by the Constitution to have the right to be left alone. Judge Napolitano had it right: I want my Miranda warning and then, the option to exercise my right to remain silent.

Others here have eloquently described what the purpose of the census is: to enumerate citizens in order to determine apportioned representatives in Congress, from the various states. That is what is required by the Constitution. Everything else is superfluous, beginning with the 1790 census onward to today. Now, those extra questions in 1790, 1830, etc., up to today, were added for some good reasons, perhaps, some added for not good reasons at all, but that does not stand in the way of the fact that they have nothing to do with the enumeration.

Personally, I have no problem with the short census form, except for race (American, thank you…any thing else is none of the gummint’s bizness), and birth dates. Why birth dates? I was quite generous and gave out the ages of all in my household – why give out a birth date, personal info that isn’t needed and doesn’t need to go out on the grid any more than it already is? We know about identity theft, don’t we? I gave out my phone number, because maybe they will call me to get the answers out of me, rather than send a useless, overpaid worker to my door.

I think I’m hoping for too much of a hopelessly inefficient, fairly stupid gummint bureaucracy.

But if I get one of the ACS long forms…look out. I am going to be refusing to answer the majority of the questions, exercising my 4th amendment rights against illegal searches.

arriving within a week.

Still waiting!!!

The reason I was waiting to return my census form is because the questions had to do with occupancy on April 1, 2010. It would have been inappropriate for me to answer such a question until that date had arrived.

and I have filled out my Census form and returned it a few weeks ago. Eric i wish that you had published this article earlier. I think the Liberals are just thrilled that the conservatives are not returning our forms. It is our civic and constitutional duty to do so. If we don’t then the liberals gain valuable ground on us in redistricting and they gain power over the elections. It’s like stacking the deck in their favor. While i think the form is intrusive so what? there is nothing in the form they can’t find out in any number of ways. conservatives out there if you don’t send your form back quickly then you are part of the problem with Democrats staying in power. the only question that i objected to was the race question. One of the problems in this country is we continue to break things down in to racial information. for that question the answer to me was obvious. I answered it by checking Other and put in big bold letters the word “American”. If we would start looking at ourselves in this manner the segregation of our races in this country would come to an end. We as citizens are no longer Afro-American or Native American or any other break down. the problem with this is that the Liberals would lose power by keeping us divided. as long as we allow ourselves to be classified into a category then racism will continue to be a problem and the liberals wit\ll continue to keep us divided and the y will continue to win elections based on racial issues. This nation has been here for over 400 years now ans the last 200+ years as the United states. Anyone born here now is a Native American. So that category is the only one that could have any validity other than the category of American. sorry i digress form the real problem here and that is that as Americans we need to get the census form in ASAP.

I declare myself a multi-cultural citizen of the US
That’s what I put on my census.
How about you?

…and will still be rigging the results in order to foster everything from gerrymandering to “Stimulus Funds” to be redirected into slush projects. Representative, stop patting yourself on the back and calling yourself a Conservative just because you have an “R” next to your name. You and other “conservatives” have fought off exactly ZERO of the policies and projects that the Current President and Democrats have proposed and enacted. I understand that taking credit for doing nothing is the standard operating procedure inside the beltway, but you need to understand that outside the beltway we are no longer buying that kind of claptrap. Never Again.

Maybe the reason fewer conservatives have not yet returned their census forms is because they are more honest than liberals. Anyone who returned the form before April 1 runs the risk of giving misinformation. How does one know on March 15 who will be living at the household. I know I have read obituaries of people who have died during those last two weeks of March. Are they in the April 1 count? They probably are if that household returned the form before count day!

once at home and once on vacation. I threw out the second form I received at the rented condo, but that seems like it opens the door for corruption.

…is a prime example of the problem conservatives have with the Republican Party. He says things that are politically correct without realizing it and he assumes things that are not true and he is deathly afraid of confrontation.
The Census Form is addressed to “Resident”. Not “conservative”. Apparently, my six year old, who is a “resident” and quite liberal, is obligated to fill out the form and tell the census bureau what race I am. I wonder if he knows I consider myself a Pacific Islander. “Let’s get our fair share” mentality is offensive. There is no question on the form about conservative.
The race question is repeated over and over and over again. It is “White or Black” Those are COLORS. Pacific Islander is not a race.
The constitution gives Congress the power to make an enumeration. It DOES NOT “explicitly” or implicitly give Congress the power to ask questions. So go ahead and oppose Obamacare if you want, McHenry, but your interpretation of the Constitution doesn’t jibe with your stance.
And finally, Rep. McHenry, the REAL problem is with the ACS survey. Pay no attention to THAT man behind the curtain, huh? What is Constitutional about the ACS survey, which is an operation of the Census? How many times per day do you flush your toilet and how much money do you make, Rep. McHenry?

covered the return envelope with God Bless America, Don’t Tread on Me and Vote Conservative stickers. If they can’t figure out I’m conservative from that, they’re dumber than I thought.

While it is understandable why so many thoughtful Americans question anything emanating from this Progressive regime, and despite the interpretation of the last sentence of Art 1, Sec 2, Clause 3 being unsettled, my brief analysis (see Opinerlog.blogspot.com) concludes that the census is, is fact, constitutional.

HOWEVER, it is doubtful iin the extreme that the invasive American Community Survey, an11-pg, 48-question monstrosity which is randomlly mailed to 3 million households, is anything way constitutional. I would suggest no American who values his liberty and confidentiality complete that instrusive and overreaching form. But, again, the census is probably one of the precious few activities of the current socialist regime which is constitutional.

“That last part, “in such a manner as they shall by law direct,” gives Congress the power to determine how the census will be conducted and what questions will be asked.”

The actual enumeration…

You don’t understand what an enumeration is?? It is certainly not finding out any personal information as the Constitution and 10th give the Fed little reason to have this information.

Yes, it gives them the right to decide whether they will mail the census, send out people to count fingers and divide by 10, set up call banks or Internet sites… It does NOT give them the right to find anything but the NUMBER of people.

Under your unbounded definition they could ask whether you are a citizen, your sexual preferences, whether you owe money, have committed crimes, who you voted for… Even you must see that this type of unbounded authority was not granted to the Fed. Your position is even more ludicrous than the Judges who have expanded the Inter State Commerce powers to a ridiculous extent.

Yes we should return our census forms with a COUNT OF PERSONS AT THAT ADDRESS AND NOTHING MORE!!!

The 2010 Form does not ask whether you are conservative. It asks us to number ourselves. This determines each state’s representation in the House of Representatives. Answer it in full or in part.

I worked Census, last spring and this spring. Otherwise, I am unemployed. I do not want to have to visit you personally (even though it means more pay for me at your expense). I’d rather have a REAL job (wish I could find one).

Returning your Census questionnaire will GREATLY reduce the amount of Federal funds spent on the Census operations.

It is just plain worng to think you are making some kind of stand by not returning the questionaire, because we are instructed to complete it by observation if no other means are available. You do not really want Census workers (who are mostly incompetent) answering the questions for you.

She said “yes”.

I asked what she did with it.

She said she threw it away.

I said, “What did you think it was, a jury summons?”

I appreciate McHenry’s 100% ACU rating. He’s a conservative’s conservative, BUT his “interpretation” of the Census clause of the Constitution is wrong and I encourage all conservatives to ignore Census form questions unrelated to the number of persons residing legally in their homes.

Article 1, Section 2 says the ENUMERATION (count) shall be “in such manner as they (Congress) shall by law direct.” In other words, Congress alone will determine how to actually conduct the COUNT – NOT asking about everything else under the sun! Does McHenry’s interpretation mean they can ask about our love lives? I maintain that asking about one’s race or whether his house is owned or rented is no less improper than “love life” questions for the Census.

The Census Bureau conducts American Community Surveys (ACS), year by year, to ask many more questions just as unwarranted as some Census 2010 questions. I believe our federal Masters know of the growing anger over an out-of-all-constitutional-bounds federal government doing things and asking things of Americans it ought not. Enter the ACS. It permits a “short” 2010 Census form. Our federal Betters are so very clever!

I can’t believe so many conservatives are short-sighted. For better part of a year, I’ve been trying to get conservatives in red areas to get involved in the census. Liberals have been rigging the game.

People should stop playing armchair constitutional lawyers. The fact is that liberals have been stacking the deck for urban areas and blue states for decades. My state, for example, shouls probably lose a Congressional seat next year. A state like Texas should add a couple.

But the liberal activists up here are busy finding mythical illegals in every basement in Boston. While conservatives are worried about an abstract invsation of privacy.

1. We should be trying to make sure that liberal states are blocked from having control of both state house and the executive to defend against any redistricting schemes.

2. And we should make sure that number is red areas are sky high so we get the funding we deserve and get more House seats.

Who could be opposed to this? People want Bostonl New York City, Chicago and Los Angeles over-represented?

It nuts.

When he had a white mom?

How is filling it out that way honest?

Couldn’t agree more!

There is a law – Title 13 USC.

It says they can ask this stuff.

We’ve got bigger fish to fry – Amnesty, Cap & Trade, Health Care do-over.

I’m sorry sir, but I do not believe you are interpreting the Constitution correctly. The pertinent part reads:

“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.”

The definition of enumeration is “To determine the number of; count.”

And it would appear to myself that the phrase “in such Manner as they shall by Law direct” refers to the enumeration itself, not a redefining of the word, meaning that the law can dictate how the government goes about the counting. There is nothing there giving them the right to ask any question other than “How many people live at your address”. There is no authority to inquire about my race, my age, or how many toilets I have in the house.

When mine came I answered the question regarding how many people are under my roof, and that is all. While you are correct that it is our constitutional duty to return the census, it is not our constitutional duty to humor politicians when they go off script.