This AP headline from TPM heated my blood to a boil: Census Worker Hanged with 'Fed' On Body. 51-year old Bill Sparkman was a census worker, and his body was found on 9/12 in a remote, rural area of Kentucky. TPM has its own follow up report today, by Zachary Roth.

First of all, it's possible this was not an attack on a federal employee merely because of his association with our federal government. We'll have to wait and see what investigators find. But the fact that it's even a realistic possibility, and that the census has to stop in Clay County, and that Census workers have to be afraid of doing their jobs infuriates me.

The Census (or Enumeration) is an intrinsic part of the American constitution; its function and reliability one of the few institutions taken for granted by the framers. It is a fundamental function of any nation wishing to hold itself together. Whether you are a tribe on the march, a city planning a festival, or group of school children and teachers on a field trip, you need to keep count of all the people. The Census is the foundation of democracy, the gold standard for knowing who we, the people, actually are. Census data is a starting point for almost every kind of policy analysis, and its invaluable for political reporters, business people, academics, teachers and school children, people just wanting to know who their neighbors are.

If you have a problem with the census, you don't just have a problem with the Obama administration or even the Federal government or the idea of a democractic Republic. You have a problem with living in any kind of useful society. And since humans are social creatures, you need to get your head examined.

I'd say go hug a census worker today, but that's probably against the rules and not good for their health. But please be nice to them when you see them.