Statistical Illiteracy: American Community Survey, used to distribute gov't funding for public health and education, is “not a scientific survey. It’s a random survey", according to Daniel Webster, R-FL.

While I understand that it is nearly impossible for a political representative to be an expert on everything they are expected to vote on, I do expect our lawmakers to have a basic underpinning of probability and statistical inference, which would serve as the basis for evidence-based legislating, rather than a lot of the ad hoc legislating we end up with.

Thanks, prionattack, for pointing this out.

edit: I just saw this gem of a quote toward the end of the article: “What really promotes business in this country is liberty,” he said, “not demand for information.”

Transparency, ye elusive muse.

My gut feeling is that this representative's district commutes entirely by unicycle and therefore should not receive transportation dollars in excess of lifeline clown shoe purchases.

I hope y'all found the 'not scientific - random' quote ironic, too. This guy is not just stat illiterate, he's completely illiterate.

My heart hurts.

I think these representatives have no idea that the average person cannot handle the amount of data that they would have to sift through to maintain their same lifestyle.

The reality is, the majority of libertarians/market anarchists wouldn't survive without the systems we have in place.

So is this a potential reality (asks the Australian), if so are there any alternatives or suggestions for replacement surveys? How serious is the concern for privacy?