The 2010 Census and political manipulation

I've been very concerned about the various shenanigans going on concerning control over the upcoming US Census, which will determine Congressional representation and voting rights for the next decade. Now Orson Scott Card in The Ornery American has put my concerns into very well-written prose. Here's an excerpt:

The Census wasn't broke. So why is Obama fixing it?

Here's why it matters:

1. When the Census takes place in 2010, the results will be used to determine which states lose seats in the House of Representatives, and which gain. This also determines which states lose electoral votes, and which gain.

2. For many decades population has been shifting from the big northeastern states to the sunbelt. There is no reason to suppose that the trend is changing, except that California may join the ranks of states losing population this time around.

3. The states that losing seats and electoral votes have been mostly states that Democrats count on to deliver big chunks of their vote. The states that gain have been, as often as not, those that deliver their votes to the Republicans.

Of course, as liberals move from the Rust Belt to the Sun Belt, they bring their voting habits with them, and some states that used to be solidly Republican are now swing states. But this is not enough for the Democrats.

. . .

In a nation that is almost evenly divided between Left and Right -- with a slight lean, most of the time, toward the right -- Obama and Emanuel already have the tools that will allow them to do to the country as a whole what was attempted in Florida.

This will be done by the use of statistical manipulation based on highly doubtful premises.

We have been hearing for years about how the homeless, the poor, and illegal immigrants have all been "undercounted" in the census. Either they can't be found -- or they hide from census officials.

Since these groups tend to vote for the Democratic Party, naturally Democrats have been very concerned to make sure these people are counted in the census.

How many of them are there?

Millions, say some.

We have no idea, say the honest.

"But if we don't count them, then the states that bear the biggest burden of dealing with the homeless, the poor, and illegal immigrants don't get their fair share of federal dollars and programs!"

Here's an idea -- adjust those dollars and those programs to target those states.

But no, the Left wants to go after the Census itself. They want to "adjust" the Census by adding "estimated" numbers of uncounted homeless, poor, and illegal immigrants.

This is functionally identical to the practice of the old Democratic Party machine in Illinois, where dead Democratic voters in Chicago turned out in large enough numbers to counterbalance all the Republican votes downstate.

Now it won't matter how many voters there are. If the Census has been jimmied to give Democratic-leaning states more congressional seats and more electoral votes than the actual count of real people would justify, the Democrats will have their "historic realignment" without having to actually persuade anybody new to vote for their candidates.

And Obama has set himself up to rig all future American elections, not through any democratic process, but by fiat. Just like a dictator.

There's more at the link. Highly recommended reading - and may I suggest you contact your Congressional representative and Senators about this? I intend to do so.

Peter