“Mind Your Own Business”

Walz Gets One Right

A complete stranger asks you “What was your electricity bill last month?”

How would you answer?

The same stranger asks “What did you make last year? Doing what? Where?”

How would you answer?

Then the stranger asks “What were the taxes on your house last year?”

If you haven’t blown him off by now, wow do you answer someone, especially one asking personal questions that are none of their business – like the Government?

How about “Mind your own business”?

A couple of days ago, the Pony Express dropped off a postcard from the United States Census Bureau directing us to a website respond.census.goc/acs. Instead of “please”, the next line read “Your response is required by law”.

Well! Nothing gets my attention more than being ordered what to do - and neatly folded into a threat. Being a notoriously gentle soul, my diplomatic response is “F You”. Like other mailed junk, I ignored it – but held on to it for…research.

Yesterday, we received a second gift from the USCB: a 47-page brick with the same implied threat: “Your response is required by law”.

I’ve long been uncomfortable with the incremental expansion and personal intrusions that have crept into the Census, a head count for representation purposes. Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 of the US Constitution states [the Census] is confined to “determining the number of Representatives in the House and imposing direct Taxes among the several States.” If you read the whole thing, you’ll see the power and manner to make laws is restricted to the “actual enumeration.” Got it? How many heads live here? 4! OK, we’re done. End of Census.

But not with the ACS (American Community Survey), First, where is the power to do a ‘mid-one’ census (there isn’t) and request deep personal info under the banner of ‘an enumeration’? (not there either) That ‘mid-decade’ BS is just a cheap disguise to trick you into thinking it's legitimate census info they need; the fine is to scare you into complying.

Fact: Anything other than an enumeration is a violation of the Constitution and the Privacy Act of 1974.

The Census Bureau, like the Internal Revenue Service, is required to comply with the 1974 Privacy Act.  If you check the instructions for the 1040 income tax forms, you will find the statement by IRS; compliance by federal agencies with the Privacy Act is mandatory.    

This takes us to the friendly folks at the Census Bureau.  

On its web-page, the Census Bureau explains the purpose of the Census as follows:

“The U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 2) mandates a headcount of everyone residing in the United States.  The population totals determine each state’s Congressional representation.  The numbers also affect funding in your community and help inform decision-makers about how your community is changing.” 

Note that the federal government’s statement of purpose does not comport with Article I, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution.  Since decisions about our communities are not within the class of powers granted to the federal government, you will not find a reference to it in the limited powers granted to the federal government.

In an overview of the Privacy Act of 1974, the Department of Justice [http://www.justice.gov/opcl/1974agenreq.htm] states “each agency that maintains a system of records shall,” according to Title 5, United States Code § 552a(e)(3):

“inform each individual whom it asks to supply information, on the form which it uses to collect the information or on a separate form that can be retained by the individual -- (A) the authority (whether granted by statute, or by executive order of the President) which authorizes the solicitation of the information and whether disclosure of such information is mandatory or voluntary; (B) the principal purpose or purposes for which the information is intended to be used; (C) the routine uses which may be made of the information as published pursuant to paragraph (4)(D) of this subsection; and (D) the effects on him, if any, of not providing all or any part of the requested information.”

The OMB (Office of Management and Budget) Guidelines note that ‘[i]mplicit in this subsection is the notion of informed consent since an individual should be provided with sufficient information about the request for information to make an informed decision on whether or not to respond.
(OMB Guidelines, 40 Fed. Reg. 28,948, 28,961 (July 9, 1975):

 http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/omb/inforeg/implementation_guidelines.pdf.  

The federal government only exists within the sphere of its delegated powers and is constitutionally powerless to act absent a specific grant of power.  It should be noted that there are no implied powers beyond the delegated powers.  For example,  Congress has been granted “the power to establish post offices.”  Therefore, Congress can pass any law necessary ‘for the establishment and maintenance’ of post offices. This would include incidental powers such as printing stamps, affixing their value, appropriating money for postal trucks, etc. 

(Members of Congress constantly attempt to reverse this principle.  I have lost count of the number of times I have watched one of these clowns hold up a copy of the Constitution and claim their powers are unlimited except in those instances where the Constitution restricts their power.  These individuals are either corrupt, incompetent, or both. Bob Greenslade)

If you’re sensitive to giving out personal information that’s not legally required, here are some suggestions when ordered to provide such on the Census and/or American Community Survey forms:

* Never destroy or deface the forms.

* Never put false information on the forms.

* Never partially complete the forms.  

After all, you don’t want to deface Government communications!

Occasionally, some ‘Census Worker’ may pay you a visit. Do not engage in conversation or say anything except a request for a business card or official identification. Sometimes the person is just an hourly part-timer, not a real fed.

Tell the person your attorney advised you to not speak in person or on the phone with anyone in Government. You want their response in writing so you have a record and can consult with counsel. Then shut up and do not budge.

Then wait for the response. If they return – rinse/repeat. You want a hard copy of their position. They may try to tell you “it's the law!” to intimidate you. Fuggetaboutit. The law’s on our side.

With this American Community Survey form, you can return it with a cover letter simply stating “Since the Constitution established a federal government of limited enumerated powers and that document does not grant them the general power to request the information, I am under no constitutional obligation to provide it.”

In any case, it’s your call. I cannot/will not try to tell you what to do. It would likely get me in trouble! But for me, it’s personal, it’s privacy and it’s playing by their rules. I am – they’re not.

Being a Law School dropout, I don’t cite court cases. However, I do keep a printed copy of this beauty on hand to support my refusal to comply with their bogus requests. Often it ends the discussion.

“Neither branch of the legislative department, still less any merely administrative body such as the Census Bureau   established by congress, possesses, or can be invested with, a general power of making inquiry into the private affairs of the citizen. [Kilbourn v. Thompson, 103 U.S. 168, 190.]  It was stated in Boyd v. U.S., 116 U. S. 616, 630, 6 Sup. Ct. 524,―and it cannot be repeated enough,― the principles that embody the essence of constitutional liberty and security forbid all invasions on the part of government and its employees of the sanctity of a man’s home and the privacies of his life.  As said by Mr. Justice Field [ Re Pacific Ry. Commission, 32 Fed. 241, 250], ‘of all the rights of the citizen, few are of greater importance or more essential to his peace and happiness than the right of personal security, and that involves, not merely the protection of his person from assault, but the exemption of his private affairs, books, and papers from inspection and scrutiny of others.  Without the enjoyment of this right, all others would lose half their value.’ 

Interstate Commerce Commission v. Brimson, 154 U.S. 447, 479 (May 26, 1894) 

 (FYI - This SCOTUS case has never been overturned) 

If the federal government had been granted the general power to make inquiries into the private affairs of the American people through the Census or a congressional-mandated survey, the Supreme Court could not have made this ruling.

Now that we know the federal government wasn’t granted the constitutional authority to make general inquiries (stick their noses) into our private affairs (business) using the disguise of the Census or some survey, it's fair to quote to the Census Bureau the brilliant comment from Democratic VP candidate: “Mind your own business!”

End of rant!

Here’s hoping lots of my fellow ‘Muricans will seriously consider engaging in some good old civil disobedience when facing these purely unconstitutional requests.

BW

Special thanks to Constitutional scholar Robert Greenslade for his welcome assistance with the research necessary for this piece.