The mathematical apparatus that the statisticians have constructed has myriad knobs, levers, and switches that can be tweaked to produce numbers either higher or lower as directed. Twist this knob and Ames, Iowa goes up 2%, flip that switch and San Francisco drops 4%.If you really believe that using statistics this way in the Census is valid, why not propose using them in elections as well? Why do millions of us have to go to the polls on election day when, with a few thousand phone calls to eligible voters, we could figure who's going to win statistically?
It would be very tempting for somebody to play with those controls to massage the numbers so that, say, the tenets of social justice are obeyed, and Congressional districts are apportioned to favor those politicians that are more properly Enlightened. A higher good is being served this way.
Briggs' blog, by the way, is quite good and I recommend it.
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