Edward Livingston: “hearing some of these speeches from the Democrat side, I have to believe that I am in George Orwell's ``Animal Farm,''…”

“hearing some of these speeches from the Democrat side, I have to believe that I am in George Orwell's ``Animal Farm,'' and I am hearing doublespeak. A real count equals polling estimates. Yet, the words ``enumeration'' and ``actual head counting'' means undercounting. Up is down, down is up. Nonsense reigns. If they counted by head 2,000 years ago, we have come a long way, baby. We can estimate how many people are out there in the world. Mr. Chairman, 200 years ago they were a little behind the times, too. They used the word ``enumeration,'' ``actual enumeration'' every 10 years to determine congressional seats and shape the districts for elected officials, both in Congress and all around the country in local offices, State legislatures and local school boards. They knew what they were talking about. They knew they had to go around and count people. But that is passe, because we are above that. According to the arguments by the minority, the Administration's polling plan for the year 2000 Census is fine. It would count 90 percent of the population, and estimate, estimate by polling, the remaining population. We can be sure we are right. How can we be sure we are right when we are not counting people? What statistics reveal is very interesting, but what they conceal is vital. A central problem with polling is the political temptation, which we have seen a lot of in recent years, to adjust the results.”