What is it with conservatives and the census? Do they just not want to count folks who don't look like them? Are they afraid "their money" is going to support "those people" if the government officially knows "those people" exist?
We cats are sadly asking ourselves these questions because the Trumpsters are taking a page from former Tory Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada, and are messing with the US census. Their ploy: trying to add a citizenship question. This, of course, will lead to undercounts and severely compromise the quality of the data.
They're cloaking the move in the robes of the Voting Rights Act — allegedly so they can better enforce it, they say — but we know that the Republicans have no interest whatsoever in that act or in applying it anywhere, so as the Parkland kids would say, we call BS on that.
In Canada, Harper canceled the mandatory long-form census and tried replacing it with a voluntary "National Household Survey," and echoes of the harm they did still reverberate across the country. Census data provide the foundation for a passel of public and private policies: health, infrastructure, economic development, education, you name it.
And we don't understand why the Republicans, who are the Tories' US compatriots in everything but name, would want to compromise data that businesses rely on to make decisions on investment, strategic planning and other important decisions.
So we keep coming back to "those people." But maybe it's not just about safety-net programs the right wingers don't want to pay for. Could it possibly be because, despite what they say, they don't want "those people" to vote? Hm! Why would that be? We cats HISS.
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