Chapter 33 of my upcoming book, The Resistance Handbook: 45 Ways to Fight Trump (pre-order at that link!), is titled “Help the Census Count Everyone.” At first blush, that might seem to be a weird thing to include in a book about anti-Trump activism, but this is serious shit. As I write:
What if federal dollars could be deployed in a way that screwed the same marginalized communities that voted against Trump and the GOP? What if Republicans could perpetuate the system of inequity, poverty, and marginalization that depresses voter participation? Heck, what if conservatives could pretend that the nation’s demographic trends weren’t as dire for their future prospects? There would be less political pressure to reform their party to be more inclusive and tolerant, and they could continue on their path to white nationalism without worrying about the electoral consequences [...]
The census in this country doesn’t just determine how much funding cities and states receive from the federal government, it also determines the boundaries of congressional and state legislative districts. Undercounting marginalized communities directly disenfranchises them and perpetuates the cycle of disempowerment.
That Census determines everything—how political boundaries are drawn, who has power and who doesn’t, who gets federal dollars and who doesn’t, and even who exists. In fact, one of the Trump regime’s first actions was to eliminate a question on the census about sexual orientation. Republicans don’t even want to acknowledge that LGBTQ people exist, and they certainly don’t want an accurate count of that population. It’s easier to pretend they are tiny and marginalized and not worthy of any concern. And businesses use that Census data to make their own decisions. An inaccurate Census is bad for business and bad for the economy.
Bloomberg editors chimed in today:
The Government Accountability Office has added the 2020 Census to its list of high-risk projects. Costs at the Census Bureau have mounted each decade as the office failed to use new technology, relying on paper forms and hundreds of thousands of human enumerators. In 2010, an aborted effort to use handheld devices cost hundreds of millions of dollars, eroding legislators’ patience with further budget increases. Seven years on, the bureau is struggling to get ready for the next count [...]
All this might be surmountable if the bureau had the right leadership and adequate resources. It doesn’t. Its director, John Thompson, announced his resignation last month, and other key positions aren’t staffed. Trump’s budget proposal falls short of what’s needed for next year’s planned test of the new systems -- a sort of dress rehearsal crucial to avoiding expensive mistakes in 2020.
The agency asked for $290 million for its efforts next year. Republicans have countered with $100 million, because they have zero interest in an accurate count. Bloomberg naively demands: “Without delay, Trump must nominate competent people to fill the empty posts, and Congress must allocate money for the necessary tests. The census debacle of 2020 is looming.”
Trump hasn’t managed to nominate competent people at the top of his regime, where success is actually important to him. Why would he nominate them somewhere where he actually prefers failure? Does Trump even know any competent people?
And Republicans in this Congress won’t allocate more money unless Democrats force their hand, making Census funding a top priority. (And they certainly should.)
Step one is for activists to understand just how critical this Census is to the future of our country, and to share that information with their fellow travelers. Because in the years ahead, we won’t win this fight unless we are all well aware of the stakes.