hey fractal,,
i totally agree with your reasoning -why you dont want to participate with the census. i mean being threatened with fines and imprisonment?!? that is going way too far. and a census being contracted by one of the worlds largest missile manufacturers?!? wtf.

here in the usa, they did a census last year. i did fill out the card, but got a visitor from the census anyway. and the neighbor, who did not fill out the card, got repeated visits. we kept seeing the census guys show up with clipboard, and knock, but the neighbor did not answer. long story short, NOT filling out the form may lead to more attention to your home than simply sending it in.

Yeah, I dont see how the census does a damn thing if they can just find this stuff anyway..why waste all that paper?..and why help support some out of country company that deals in missile sales? What the hell is up with all of that?..and so I am sopposed to feel bad about it because some people believe that I am causing more harm in the world by refusing to fill out a paper and help support a weapons company(we all know the world needs more of them) when the information can be easily found without supporting a company that basically profits durring times of war.

It's called being a conscious consumer. In the world we live in the strongest vote you have is your dollar..by not complying with a census that some weapons company makes money off of I am NOT giving them my dollar, and supporting them I am sure would offset any good I do by filling out the damn thing when they can get all they need anyway by other means. The fact that the country I live in that sopposedly cares so much abotu me outright makes threats against those who dont fill out a census form that supports this company just adds to it. There is nothing about this that makes me think "free country".

Or are you giving them more money, as they get paid to continue following up for every X number of citizens who don't fill out the form?

I personally found the second and third movies to be much better, but I agree that the first movie is pretty funny.

I love how a thread about the Canadian census turned into a discussion about Trailer Park Boys and The Tragically Hip

Although I do love the Tragically Hip. Been rockin' out to them since grade school.

I'm with fractal. I refuse to fill mine out. They haven't threatened me yet, but threats will only serve to solidify my decision. Someone brought up the internet and how much information is gathered....well then why waste paper? Just collect all the relevant information from the internet.

I am very anti-government, probably to a fault. I don't have a driver's license, I don't vote, I don't even like doing my taxes. Almost anything that makes it's way into my mail box from the Canadian government gets half read and thrown out. Again, maybe that's a fault of mine. But government and politics just sicken me. Obviously I have some problems dealing with authority.

Yeah, I hear you. Back in my younger days we used to use the word antidisestablishmentarianism. It's the longest word in the English language and it encapsulates an entire philosophy of not trusting the corporate machine and their hand-puppet, our Federal Government.

That being said, I agree with biopsylo 100%. I obediently fill-out my census report and don't buck the arguably corrupted system. I know that Big Brother is watching, counting and categorizing all of us... and this is most disturbing.

Still, I always advise fellow travelers to pay their fair share of taxes, however corrupt their management may be, and I believe it most certainly is. Yet, I feel strongly that a wise Spirit Dancer must walk softly and carry a big grin (a transparent attempt to paraphrase President Teddy Roosevelt's famous quote, "Walk softly and carry a big stick".

After all, when everything else is stripped away from the government monitoring process (privacy, freedom and dignity), we are still free souls who have the POWER to dream a good dream. If I may quote another prominent American personality, Jimi Hendrix, "Keep on thinking free."

I guess people think of different things when they think of “government”. Many seem to envision sinister forces working to restrict our liberties, and I’m sure there’s some truth to that. But “government” isn’t a monolithic entity. It’s many things.

Having worked in government, I see it differently: In most communities (at least here in bigger US cities) trash is picked up by government. When you flush your toilet, the waste is removed from the water by government. The water is cleaned by government before being returned to its source. Drinking water is cleaned by government, and delivered to your home by government water supply lines. The roads you drive on are designed and built by government (or their contractors), every light post and stop sign and street sign is installed and maintained by government. When there’s a tornado or severe storm (and there have already been quite a few this season) government sirens sound to warn people to take cover. Most children in the US are educated by government employees in government schools. Government public health programs provide assistance (both financial and educational) to pregnant young women, provide flu shots to the poor, inspect restaurants to ensure food safety, provide meals for the elderly, and provide many other services for many needy people. Government maintains libraries – where else can you “rent” books and DVDs for free? If your house catches fire and you call 911 (a service provided by government), government workers will rush to your house and do everything they can to protect you and your property.

I could go on and on, but hopefully you get the point.

Yes but in long run someone else here in canada is paying for all of that..and the more they see that canadian citizens dont morally agree with the actions of the company they are supporting, and so are not cooperative which costs them more money the more they(if they have some brains) should begin to question weather or not it makes sense to take canadian business(payed for by taxpayers) elsewhere. I would rather see a little bit more money wasted if the end result is a change for the better.

I have every right as a tax paying citizen to take a moral opposition to my tax dollars being spend doing shady business with weapons dealers. Why cant they at least create more work in canada that isnt indirectly supporting war? I pay taxes..I file my taxes each year..I am definatily entitled to have an opinion and excercise my rites in a situation such as this.

I know all the good things the government does for us. Government employees are paid very well for those services, at least compared to the money I make. That huge chunk that they take off my pay cheque every two weeks is what affords me (relatively) clean water, waste removal, education for my children, etc. I feel that some of these things the government provides us with actually make us more sedentary. I've known quite a few people who were too lazy to get through high school, worked some minimum wage jobs, then said "fuck it" and just applied for welfare. Now they sit around selling drugs and letting the government pay for their rent, food, and pretty much everything else. If they weren't basically spoon fed all these privileges (most see them as rights) from a young age, perhaps they would have learned the value of hard work and dedication.

I just tend to see government as a business. Concerned with money, primarily. Money, to me, is a necessary evil. Only necessary because I need it to survive, at present. If I was able to become completely self sustaining, I would do so. I simply do not have the means (money) to make all that happen, nor the knowledge and skill. That's what it all boils down to; money. And I'm so completely disgusted by the lust for it, the materialism, the consumerism, all of it. Some people spend a huge fraction of their lives just making money. Thinking it gives them some power or prestige. That money can buy anything. I learned very early on that money cannot buy the things that truly matter.

One truth is that essentially ALL LAND on the planet has been taken and held by people with GUNS; and if you wish to live on it (i.e., anyone who wishes to live anywhere but in the ocean) you must CONTINUALLY PAY the people with guns who took the land--or else, ultimately, those people with guns will KILL YOU. That's right, kill you. Sure, first they'll DEMAND the money or try to take it from you, then they'll just try to punish you and take you to jail, but if you insist you are a FREE PERSON, and use every means at your disposal to stop them from taking your things, or your PERSON, via kidnapping, then...they will simply kill you. In the end there IS NO COMPROMISE POSITION as part of the system. You will obey or you will die.

If you don't realize that FUNDAMENTALLY, a government exists ONLY to use force (or the threat of force) to carry out policies, then you're not seeing clearly. Without the threat of force a government can do NOTHING, IS nothing, and would spontaneously cease to exist.

If you decide that it is morally wrong to impose force upon others, then you have decided that governments are immoral, and the only MORAL way for people to take communal action is through voluntary cooperation.