May 3, 2010

Will you come to visit me in jail?

By Phil Scovell


I did not fill out the census which came in the mail.  Frankly, I put it off 
a little too long and just forgot about it.
Fortunately, although this makes no difference to me personally, the one I 
received was the short version and not the
ungodly lengthy census that takes an hour to complete.  So, on this date, a 
man, quite nice and polite by the way,
came to my door at about 6:30 P.M.  He explained who he was and what he was 
doing and even affably stated his
first and last name clearly.  He then explained that he had a list of 
question, to which he would now refer, in order to
fill out the U.S. census for me.  I kept to myself that I had already read 
through the census and was aware of all of
the personal questions they attempt to ask a private, free, U.S. American 
born, citizen.  Once he finished briefly
explaining what he was going to do for me, I spoke up and said the 
following.  "Sir, I will save you the time and
answer one, and only one, question on your census form according to the law 
of the U.S. Constitution.  My answer
is, there are four people living in this house; three are adults and one is 
a teenager.  Otherwise, for all other questions
on your census form, you may write (Article 1, Section 2), because that is 
where it says in the U.S. Constitution that
I only have to answer that one question."  He repeated what I said, and 
obviously wrote it down, because, since he
apparently has never bothered reading the U.S. Constitution, he asked me to 
repeat what I would have written down
for all other questions.  I repeated, "Article 1, Section 2."  He repeated 
it and I said, "Correct."  He thanked me for
my time and he said he fully understood and we said our goodbyes.

 Only one man has ever been find for not filling out the census form since 
the practice began but if I have to
go to jail for believing in what the U.S. Constitution says, I hope all of 
you will come and visit me.

Phil.