Recreational Poli Sci

Heads up, friends, it’s Census time. Yes, the Ye Olde Tradition from the first article of the Constitution says we must count heads to apportion congressional juice, but we also learn a lot about population changes from the form that folks fill out. I’m looking forward to learning what percent of Americans self-describe themselves with Scotch-Irish ancestry. That “ethnicity,” as you might describe it, is central to a particular senator’s identity without doubt (who sought to “redeem them from their redneck, hillbilly stereotype and place them at the center of American history and culture”).

Yet, there was a massive drop in the number of people identifying as Scotch-Irish between 1990 and 2000— according to the Census Bureau’s report on ancestry, from 5.6m to 4.3m, representing a 23% drop. So, if you’re S-I, fight your way to that census and make your belligerent presence felt!