Just because you didn't see it

doesn't mean it wasn't there...

The Census Bureau is now going door to door with a 140,000 task force to collect the GPS locations of every front door of every house in this country. This has not been reported in the mainstream media. There is absolutely no need for them to have this information. It could be used however, for nefarious purposes...

Look, I'm on board with those who cast a jaundiced eye at the government's efforts in this regard, but to say that it wasn't reported in the media or to spin this as some sort of Rahm Emmanuel-inspired idea to allow ACORN to take over the nation is a little much.

If only because state radio told you it was coming:

All Things Considered, July 31, 2006 · Two-and-a-half years from now, in early 2009, the Census Bureau plans to send an army of 100,000 temporary workers down every street and dusty, dirt road in America. They will be armed with handheld GPS devices.

Personally, I'm not terribly worried about the government GPSing my front door. ASMs are too expensive to waste on my house. And for the census bureau to do its constitutionally-mandated job, "counting the whole number of persons in each state," well, one could argue that an accurate count demands that they record all the places those people live.

However, what really bothers is the expansion of the census into a convenient tool not for learning where you live, but how you live. If you are lucky enough to be "randomly selected" to fill out the long form, you'll be required on penalty of fine to tell the government things like:

Because of a physical, mental, or emotional condition lasting 6 months or more, does this person have any difficulty ... Dressing, bathing, or getting around inside the home?

or

How many people, including this person, usually rode to work in the car, truck, or van last week?

All of which allow them to assemble summaries of Americans' propensities, like this.

Such obnoxiously intrusive questions, unlike recording the physical location of residences, have no constitutional justification whatsoever. So why are they recorded?

Because the census is no longer about the Constitution. It uses the Constitution as an excuse to organize Americans, or as Bastiat noted, "Socialists look upon people as raw material to be formed into social combinations."

Socialists of both parties.