There’s a good overview in Government Executive magazine of the challenges facing the upcoming census count, which is going to bubble up in the news between now and April 1, Census Day. One theme of the piece, and the ongoing contention over the census, is the issue of making sure everyone gets counted; that’s what the ruckus over statistical sampling is all about (i.e., using statistical methods to estimate the population, rather than an actual enumeration). The Left is all for any means of increasing the census count because they rightly surmise that boosting the response rate for low-response groups will boost their representation in Congress and the state legislatures, as well as the amount of money they’ll be able to divert from taxpayers to their constituencies. Though the Supreme Court has rightly ruled that use of sampling — guessing, really — is prohibited for purposes of congressional apportionment, the very fact that liberals would sue over such a thing is telling. In fact, in a sidebar (not online) to the above article, Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, says “Census 2010 is really the sleeper civil rights issue of the 111th Congress.”

A civil right issue? No. In fact, there is no right to be counted. On the contrary, you are the one obliged — legally obliged — to make sure you’re counted in the census. It’s of course appropriate as a matter of policy that the Census Bureau make every reasonable effort to count everyone, through canvassing addresses, advertising, etc. And if the Bureau were to say, “Let’s just skip Harlem this time around,” then that would indeed be a rights issue.

But if you won’t take the elementary steps necessary to be included in the census, like mailing back a simple form (there’s no more long form), then you don’t deserve to be counted. The difference here between the parties is not just about money and legislative seats — the Right sees Americans as active citizens participating in their own governance, while the Left sees us as passive clients waiting to be serviced. This is nothing new, but it puts the census arguments into better perspective.