The thing about the census is that for some, it comes across as “the government putting you on a list”. For people with no trust in the government, it feeds paranoia about what is being done with that list. Are they coming to take my guns? Are they coming to take my kids? Are they going to arrest me for being too-liberal/too-conservative/christian/muslim/athiest/poor? Am I going to end up in a FEMA camp or an Arpaio style prison?
That may sound far-fetched to some, but they are real fears that plague real people.
The first time I heard the “won’t give up the presidency” rumor, it was Clinton. When it came back around with Bush, it included FEMA camps. When it came back again with Obama, it was FEMA camps and black helicopters. This rumor is fear-mongering, but the fear is out there. It stems from worries about fascism, even if the people with the fears would never call it that.
How would we all feel about a decaying cheeto in possession of a list of every gay person? How about a list of everyone who had a medical cannabis card? How about people one degree of separation from a person with a gun or a cannabis card or a felony conviction? What about a list of everyone who has been at a protest? Would that make people afraid?
I know many people have no sympathy for sex offenders, but the SORNA list is one that is hugely destructive. It’s gives free reign to any cop who wants to harass someone on the list, whether they are dangerous or not, whether they have done anything truly wrong, or not. It’s the thin edge of the police state, and it started with a list, “to protect the children”.
If it was legitimately a list of dangerous people, and didn’t include any non-dangerous people, I might think about it differently. But it includes people who had to pee outside because they were homeless. It includes Romeo & Juliet people (well, mostly the men), it includes people who pleaded guilty to something minor that was later reclassified as a sex offense. It includes a lot of people who pose zero danger to any person, but the list allows the government to discriminate against the people on the list. In some places, people on the list have no legal place to reside and end up under bridges.
Do you want to be on that list? No, of course not. But, there will be more lists, the more fascist our country becomes. The census might not be THAT list, but I say that because I still have some modicum of trust in the government’s bureaucrats, if not the leadership.
EDIT: Also, I feel that writing this down, in a public place, would place me on the wrong sort of list. I considered pulling it down, but if I do end up on a list, this post won’t be why.