A Math Teacher's Thoughts on the Census

Today is April 1, 2010, so I dutifully filled out my census form today and will mail it in the morning. Despite what the media and the U.S. Census Bureau tell me, I don't think I need to fill it out ahead of the official day—indeed, if some tragedy had befallen my family, say, two days ago, and I had already mailed in my form, it could have been inaccurate.

Two things really rub me the wrong way about the Census this year.

1. The Cost. It's outrageous. According to the NBC News (note: credibility warning), the U.S. Census Bureau is spending $14,000,000,000 for the decennial count. Think about this: That works out to about $45.60 per person (if we assume 307,000,000 people will be counted). That means the government is spending $273.60 just to count my family of six!

The commercials and advertising are excessive. The reminders that the census helps determine which communities most heavily contribute to future budget deficits add to the annoyance.

We can only imagine what healthcare will look like. And that happens more than once a decade.

2. The ridiculous efforts "to count everyone," while also ignoring whether those counted belong in this country at the moment, while assuring those counted that nothing "bad" will happen to them because the census data is confidential. This will give lopsided representation to those states with lots of illegal, countable immigrants, while denying it to states which have few. This is inconsistent with the intent of the Constitution and the census.

People who are not legally in this country, and people who are not citizens, should not be counted for the purposes of determining representation. And really, that's the purpose of the census, isn't it? Isn't it??

Good News! I've Solved the Illegal Immigrant Problem!

I have developed a two-pronged solution to the illegal immigrant problem.

First, we need to go national on the NYC plan for the homeless: If they are here illegally, we buy them a one-way plane ticket (or bus ticket, if they're already close enough to Mexico) to where they ought to be. I figure if we spend $500 per illegal immigrant and there are 15 million of them, the government spends $7.5 billion. A relative bargain!

[Of course, with the government running the program, the costs will be higher...but even at $1000 per illegal immigrant and even if the government could find 20 million of them, it's still just $20 billion. By California standards alone, that's a good deal.]

Second, I think we as a nation have been ignoring the example of our neighbors to the north in Quebec. Up there, they all stubbornly speak one language and look down upon those who deign to visit and not speak their mother tongue. That—and the cold weather—easily explains why most of us don't want to live there!

These simple steps alone should put a huge dent in the problem. I'll try to make some headway on that world peace problem this weekend.

More on the very, very bad immigration bill...

The Senate apparently killed the immigration bill, once and for all, today. In so doing, they have evidently observed that the will of the American people was against it. And this time, most American people were right.

Each of us would be wise to observe how our own senators voted on the bill. I have included a link here, so that you can quickly determine how your own two senators voted. Feel free to thank them or rebuke them for their votes.

A detailed look at the roster will note that 12 Republicans left wisdom behind and voted Yea, while 15 Democrats found some and voted Nay. The two independents (i.e., closet Democrats) in Congress split their votes (Lieberman of CT voting Yea; Sanders of VT voting Nay), and Sen. Johnson (D-SD) remains away for health reasons.

The very, very bad immigration bill before the Senate

This week the United States Senate continues to debate an immigration bill that is very contrary to the wishes of most ordinary, law-abiding Americans. In part, it will either explicitly or practically give amnesty to a very large number of illegal immigrants—people whose very arrival here constituted a violation of our laws. The consequences of such a law are very troubling, especially where social welfare and voting issues are concerned...not to mention terrorism. Has it occurred to any of the bill's supporters in the Senate that they may be granting amnesty to people who could potentially want to murder large numbers of us?

I am especially annoyed by the fact that our national government, in the over 5½ years since 9/11, has essentially failed to make any decent attempt to control who enters our country legally, except perhaps via airports. And we all know that the terrorists will try to enter the country via airports (probably even using their real names). Then there are the budgetary reasons: Do illegal immigrants contribute more financially to our states, counties, and cities then they sap financially from them? I very much doubt it.

But the fact is still the fact: Illegal immigration is illegal, and the federal government needs to deal with it—wisely, not foolishly. I read a good article (read the full text here) on the subject from Newt Gingrich; here is a summary of some of what he wrote (with my commentary blended in, too):

• Control the border! Build fences, hire more Border Patrol (and give them authority to do their jobs aggressively), use technology—whatever! Just do it!
• Get serious! Go after the companies that continue to "hire" illegal immigrants, and punish them to the fullest extent of the law...and then toughen the law.
• If an illegal immigrant commits a crime, immediately deport him. Period.
• Make English the official language. Legal immigrants should have some sort of way to learn the language, of course; but in order to get to vote, immigrants must pass a test in U.S. History in English.
• Improve the temporary guest worker and visa programs that we have, and check on those whose visas expire.
• Yes, some of the illegals who are here are working and obeying our laws and taking care of their families. And, yes, they should be allowed on the path of citizenship. But in order to properly obey and respect our laws, they should have to return to their country and file their paperwork—as we would want their countrymen to do.

I would also add that America needs to be extremely careful about immigration from Muslim countries. Islam is not a religion that is compatible with American ideals, and despite the politically correct drumbeat of multiculturalism, the truth is that more Islam here does not make our country a better place. And, of course, most of the potential terrorists in our country are Islamic. (When was the last time a Canadian tried to blow us up?)