Gravy Train

What is the purpose of a census?

• Find out how many people are in a country
• Find out who is available for military service
• For research purposes
• Apportion members of the House of Representatives
• To apportion federal funding for social and economic programs

When you listen to the TV ads for the 2010 census, you get the impression that the only purpose is the last one, to make sure you are getting your fair share of federal gravy.

Could this lead to a change in the way people arrange themselves in a population? Especially in a society that takes big to give big, this places a great value on being where the most are. A person of less than average income would be best served by locating in an area with large population to benefit from the additional public services that will flow from government coffers (and from their rural neighbors).

Once upon a time there was landed gentry and the huddled poor masses. The USA gave the poor the opportunity to own land, to be their own masters. Could the census, as currently portrayed, lead us back to the class system again?