Census Time

The official 2010 Census form arrived today.  Here are some excerpts:

"Census results are used to decide the number of representative each state has in the the U.S. Congress.  The amount of government money your neighborhood receives also depends on these answers.  That money is used for services for children and the elderly, roads, and many other local needs."

"8. Is Person 1 of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin?"

"9. What is person 1's race?"

It is entirely possible that our government thought it would be a good idea to waste space and ink on these two questions and their response fields, but it isn't probable. So, we are left to deduce that the questions have some bearing on the items mentioned in the first excerpt.

One possibility is that race has some role to play in the creation of congressional districts.  While I cannot say in certain terms whether or not this is a good thing, districting along such lines seems arbitrary at best.  The strategy may, in fact, be divisive and inflammatory.

The other possibility is that race somehow affects the amount of "government money" received by certain geographic regions.  This quite clearly crosses the line between arbitrary and discriminatory.  (It bears mentioning here that there is no such thing as "government money".  Governments do not create wealth - they merely confiscate it from citizens and redistribute it to whomever they wish.)

My essential problem with the census is that it seems like a thinly veiled attempt by politicians to gather information about manipulable voting constituencies.  (If I wanted to buy votes, I would surely attempt to have the voters pay for a census.)

If governments are to build and maintain roads, then they might need to collect information on vehicle usage patterns.  If they are to maintain parks and utilities, they might need to collect information on population densities.  I can think of no legitimate need for governments to collect information pertaining to race.

A Delightful Drinking Game

Last weekend, after finishing an invigorating game of Bananagrams with my wife and a couple of our friends at my early birthday party, we struggled to think of the perfect drinking game.  Clinging to the crosswordy awesomeness of my newly discovered favorite game, I suggested that we place a shot in the middle of the table and each take 10 tiles from the bag.  After someone started the game with the familiar "split", the last of us to make a word five letters or longer with our tiles would have to take a drink.

As you would expect, we all agreed that this was the greatest drinking game ever in the history of drinking games.  Although there is no way I was the first person to combine drinking and Bananagrams, I'm writing this post in the hope that someone, someday, will find this post and go on to drinking game glory.