The federal court ruling that bars questions about citizenship on the 2020 Census is, on the surface, a victory for Democrats.
On a deeper level, the decision is an implicit concession by Democrats of something obvious but important: that the states and congressional districts they represent include large numbers of noncitizens, whether legal residents or not.
Census data tell the story: the foreign-born population exceeds 20 percent in more than 50 Democratic congressional districts; the comparable figure for Republican districts is 11.
Because congressional representation-and federal aid-is determined by population count, not the number of citizens, Democrats and their districts gain an advantage.
Democrats "Represent" millions of constituents who have not voted for them-and, by definition, may not.
I suggest the following compromise: include the citizenship question on the Census-don't we want to know how many U.S. residents can participate in our democracy?-but promote naturalization, to urge as many legal immigrants to embrace U.S. citizenship as possible.
Looked at in that way, it's disappointing that Democrats would defend a system in which so many of their constituents have representation, but not the franchise.
https://www.city-journal.org/democrats-2020-census
On a deeper level, the decision is an implicit concession by Democrats of something obvious but important: that the states and congressional districts they represent include large numbers of noncitizens, whether legal residents or not.
Census data tell the story: the foreign-born population exceeds 20 percent in more than 50 Democratic congressional districts; the comparable figure for Republican districts is 11.
Because congressional representation-and federal aid-is determined by population count, not the number of citizens, Democrats and their districts gain an advantage.
Democrats "Represent" millions of constituents who have not voted for them-and, by definition, may not.
I suggest the following compromise: include the citizenship question on the Census-don't we want to know how many U.S. residents can participate in our democracy?-but promote naturalization, to urge as many legal immigrants to embrace U.S. citizenship as possible.
Looked at in that way, it's disappointing that Democrats would defend a system in which so many of their constituents have representation, but not the franchise.
https://www.city-journal.org/democrats-2020-census
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