Your Mandarin was watching the local television news broadcast last night to watch the weather forecast – it amuses me to see what they are predicting and then I go to the lab and set the weather ray to the opposite setting, but I digress.

While waiting there was a special report on the efforts of local groups to go into the “community” to ensure that everyone was aware of the Census and that they filled out the form to ensure that their “community” received everything they were entitled to.

The main focus of this volunteer group was the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago. For those of you not from the Chicagoland area, Pilsen is a neighborhood that is predominantly Hispanic. One of the volunteers stated, and I am paraphrasing, “It is difficult for us to get an accurate count of the people living in the community since many of them fear deportation due to their immigration status. We tell them that the Census is private and that the information is not shared with immigration authorities.”

Your Mandarin has a few points to make:

1. By encouraging those “hidden in the shadows” to stand up and be counted, we are legitimizing their claims to be here despite their illegal immigrant status. We are also continuing to encourage them to avail themselves of tax-payer funded public services.

2. By counting those who are not legal U.S. citizens we are artificially inflating the number of representatives in Congress that are required. This in turn creates a situation in which there is representation without taxation.

3. A symbiotic relationship develops where the entitlement class with its over-representation continues to vote for the politicians willing to promote and expand the entitlement programs from which they benefit. This creates the classic cycle of politicians giving more and more to those who don’t contribute to the tax coffers at the expense of those that do.

Your Mandarin fears that the purpose of the Census has been corrupted from its original intent to determine population densities and demographic trends to what it is today – a system to solidify political power and create an ever growing portion of the populace dependent on the government dole.

The Mandarin

The Mandarin, whose real name is 吏恆, joined the order in 1309, and introduced the Gormogons into England during the 18th Century.

The Mandarin enjoys spending time with his pet manticore, Βάρἰκος, or Barry (who can be found in the Bestiary). When not in the Castle…well, frankly, nobody is quite sure where he goes.

The Mandarin popularized the fine art of “gut booting,” by which he delivers a powerful kick to the stomach of anyone that annoys him. Although nearly universal today, the act of gut booting or threatening someone or something with a gut boot is solely due to him.