All I want is what I have coming to me; all I want is my fair share!

The U.S. Census Bureau must have been channeling Charlie Brown's little sister Sally when they sent me a form letter that arrived today.

Read this taxpayer-funded letter and think about the implications of what our government is doing to our citizenry:

Dear Resident:

About one week from now, you will receive a 2010 Census form in the mail. When you receive your form, please fill it out and mail it in promptly.

Your response is important. Results from the 2010 Census will be used to help each community get its fair share of government funds for highways, schools, health facilities, and many other programs you and your neighbors need. Without a complete, accurate census, your community may not receive its fair share.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Sincerely,

Robert M. Groves
Director, U.S. Census Bureau

First things first, do I have this correct? Did the U.S. Census Bureau spend presumably millions of dollars in postage sending out a letter to every household in America telling all of us that we are going to receive a census form? They couldn't have just included a letter like this with the census form that explains the importance of filling it out?

Secondly, let's review why it is apparently so important that the census form I will be receiving. Not once, but TWICE, the term "fair share" is used in this letter. Is this what being an American has been reduced to? Forget hard work, rugged individualism, and making something of yourself; now we are all expected to fight over our "fair share" of the gubmint swag being doled out by Uncle Sugar? Swag that is paid for by our tax dollars, no less. It's just so pathetic. This letter was pathetic.

The letter ends with a bit of helpful advice:

Go to 2010census.gov for help in completing your 2010 Census form when it arrives.

Now, in case you cannot read what I just quoted to you, the letter goes on with further assistance:

Cuando reciba su formulario del Censo del 2010, visite 2010census.gov para obtener ayuda sobre como completarlo

Khi nhan duoc don Thong De Dan So 2010, xin vao dia chi mang 2010census.gov nue can huong dan cach dien.

This statement is also written in Chinese, Korean, and Russian, but I don't have the capability of typing those with this computer.

All these various languages made me think of something I wanted to bring to your attention. Mark Krikorian of The Corner blog at National Review Online has a good idea regarding an important part of the Census form:

Fully one-quarter of the space on this year's form is taken up with questions of race and ethnicity, which are clearly illegitimate and none of the government's business (despite the New York Times' assurances to the contrary on today's editorial page). So until we succeed in building the needed wall of separation between race and state, I have a proposal. Question 9 on the census form asks "What is Person 1's race?" (and so on, for other members of the household). My initial impulse was simply to misidentify my race so as to throw a monkey wrench into the statistics; I had fun doing this on the personal-information form my college required every semester, where I was a Puerto Rican Muslim one semester, and a Samoan Buddhist the next. But lying in this constitutionally mandated process is wrong. Really — don't do it.

Instead, we should answer Question 9 by checking the last option — "Some other race" — and writing in "American." It's a truthful answer but at the same time is a way for ordinary citizens to express their rejection of unconstitutional racial classification schemes. In fact, "American" was the plurality ancestry selection for respondents to the 2000 census in four states and several hundred counties.

So remember: Question 9 — "Some other race" — "American". Pass it on.

And so I have passed it on. Now go and do likewise.

Good Day to You, Sir