English Language Bill Will Unify America and Take Our Nation Back

When the founding fathers decided to use their collective wisdom to create the United States of America, I am quite sure that they did not feel it necessary to specifically define English as the official language for our nation.

To them it was an absolute no-brainer. Just as it was also assumed that marriage was between a man and a woman; that is, Adam and Eve -- not Adam and Steve. But like most time-held traditions of our nation, English as the unspoken official language of our nation is not only under assault, it is being threatened to become a special-interest language. How is that possible when our nation's schools teach English from Kindergarten clear through the 12th grade?

It is possible because very slowly the invasion of literally millions of illegal aliens across our borders have begun to influence when we can speak our own language. They seem to be able to define when it is legal to not speak it because the new minority language -- that is, Spanish -- may soon replace English as the unofficial language. If illegal immigration is not checked it will become the majority language.

After all Spanish is in vogue, and in some cases is mandatory for employees to speak or the employee can be suspended from his or her job, and an employer may be sued for insisting that an employee speak English.

I'm sure you will agree that one of the most frustrating and irritating things that we have to deal with in this nation is having to listen on the telephone through at least one other or two other languages when we are attempting to order service, complain about a problem, find out what the solution to our problem might be or just attempting to navigate through a maze of offerings on an entertainment or concert phone site.

Why are we allowing the very language of our American identity to slip away simply because some in our nation desire to be politically correct? Well it is quite possible that we soon may be "politically corrected" out of existence because we want to accommodate every person who decides that he is too lazy to learn the spoken language of our nation.

This is the same illegal alien who insists that although he is an unwelcome guest in our country, his children (who are also here illegally) must be educated in our public schools and taught in their native language because to do otherwise would be discriminatory.

So, America must accommodate this nonsense at our own expense. If we were in Mexico, would there be a hue and cry for English to be taught to the American immigrants? Would Mexican social service providers, Mexican teachers, or Mexican businesses be intimidated into providing -- at their expense -- English-only documents? And would their courts even entertain a lawsuit that allowed for a nonsense suit to be adjudicated in favor of the American immigrant because his Mexican employer refused to allow him to speak in his own native tongue because he was, after all, more comfortable with that, and to do otherwise would be discriminatory?

Yet in America we choose to accommodate the illegal alien invasion with its attempt to subjugate our nation's language to the tune of tens of millions of public dollars to pay for signage that includes an English version as well as a translation, and to make certain that the students who are here illegally with their illegal parents can get an illegally obtained education in Spanish not English.

The shifting sands must stop shifting. The line has to be made clear and indelible so that illegal aliens who receive welfare or healthcare are not easily accommodated by local and state officials who mandate everything be translated into Spanish. A stand needs to be taken now so that if an illegal alien is going to apply for assistance and if we are going to allow it, then they must learn our language. If they are interested in taking advantage of the provision of housing benefits or educational benefits, then they should make it their business to learn English so they can understand what they are qualified for and not qualified for. That should be the law of the state and the law of our nation.

There are those in Congress who agree with this commonsense approach to saving and preserving our English language. The English Language Unity Act of 2005, which is moving through the Congress, will finally complete the job the founding fathers did not realize they had to even entertain as a clause in the Constitution in order to make English the official language of America.

It is critical that this happen now. In our country we speak more than an estimated 320 languages. It is costly to provide services including printing ballots, teaching students and their parents in multiple languages.

"To declare English as the official language of the United States, to establish a uniform English language rule for naturalization, and to avoid misconstructions of the English language texts of the laws of the United States pursuant to Congress's powers to provide for the general welfare of the United States and to establish a uniform rule of naturalization under article I, section 8, of the Constitution."

But there is opposition to this because certain people feel it is politically incorrect to possibly offend the Hispanic community. But isn't it insulting to the Hispanic community who immigrated to our nation legally to say that they feel they should receive special or preferential treatment when other nationalities did not?

Is it not insulting to think that Americans of Hispanic descent would want to have a stronger allegiance to the nation they immigrated from rather than the melting pot which they immigrated to?

Admittedly we are a nation of diverse backgrounds and, as the Bill states, we benefit from the richness that the diversity our ethnic backgrounds and nationalities provide. But at our nation's shores we check the language of the nation we left and take on the mantle of America's language or so we always thought.

The common thread that unites us as a nation must be English. It provides the foundation and the essence of our linguistic fabric. It is implied in our Constitution. It must now be made official.

As Americans we have an official affirmative obligation to preserve, protect and defend the essence of which we are so that our children will have a nation and an English language that has not been discharged to the refuse heap of history as an unwilling victim of political correctness gone unchecked and unchallenged.

Let's begin to utilize common sense in making certain that English is taught as the official language, that it is required in all actions, in all documents, in all trade, in all commerce, in all provision of services and, perhaps most importantly, in all schools.

After all if we require all citizens who are becoming naturalized citizens to be able to read and speak our language, is it a leap of logic to require it for illegal aliens as well as for all Americans?

Let's use some common sense and make English the official language. Our founding fathers would be proud.

Kevin Fobbs is President of National Urban Policy Action Council (NuPac), a non-partisan civic and citizen-action organization that focuses on taking the politics out of policy to secure urban America's future one neighborhood, one city, and one person at a time. View NuPac on the web at www.nupac.info. Kevin Fobbs is also Outreach Communications Vice Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party and daily host of The Kevin Fobbs Show on News Talk WDTK - 1400 AM in Detroit as well as co-founder of the Jackson, MI-based American Conservative Values Television Network. Listen to The Kevin Fobbs Show online at www.wdtkam.com daily 2-3 p.m., and call in toll-free nationwide to make your opinion count at 800-923-WDTK(9385).

You're right...It was an absolute no brainer and it still is. Do it and get it over with. We all learn English from scratch...It's not like we're born speaking English. If you want to come here...plan on learning English. Everyone else has....for 200+ years.

If we were in Mexico, would there be a hue and cry for English to be taught to the American immigrants? Would Mexican social service providers, Mexican teachers, or Mexican businesses be intimidated into providing -- at their expense -- English-only documents?

I agree pretty much with everything here. I know of some places that print documents in over 50 different languages. I think that new (legal) immigrants should be rquired to take English language classes at night. It should be noted that the great majority of immigrants' children do learn English. I don't mind some accommodation to Spanish, but it should not go overboard which seems like what is happening more and more. I am in complete support of this bill.

The author missed on just one point though. While in Korea, every foreign resident I met there did NOT send their son or daughter to a Korean school. It was to an English-speaking school. When a lot of Americans go abroad, we look for someone who speaks English (much as Spanish speakers do here). If Americans were any sizable minority in Mexico (in the millions), then I do indeed would insist on English instruction being given in schools, or at the very least, they would attend English schools.

Is it not insulting to think that Americans of Hispanic descent would want to have a stronger allegiance to the nation they immigrated from rather than the melting pot which they immigrated to?

We are no longer a melting pot, we are now a balkanized nation of special interest groups. The PC left has insisted on this. We need quotas to make sure that the ratios are all right and that those who have been denied opportunities in the past (by someone other than those in charge now) get extra chances to make up for sins of the past generations.

There is no longer any reason to learn the language to become a participating member of society when you can vote in at least 3 languages in Houston.

Common sense, maybe. But President Bush, sadly, is the worst multilingualist zealot in public office today. :^( He's great on taxes, pro-life, the war, judges... but Bill Lann Lee actually is the author of Bush's language policies.

www.lep.gov

>Let's use some common sense and make English the official language

On the other hand,
keeping things the way they are
makes class structure clear --

folks who speak English
are real citizens, boss class,
the rest are workers . . .

When Americans go overseas for a short time I don't think it is unsual for them to enrole their children in an English speaking school. They are planning to return to the US and want their children to keep pace with their peers. NNow if you are moving to a new country for a long time you should learn the local language.

To me, 2 or more years is long term. No, it is not that unusual for them to enroll in English-speaking schools at all, it is the norm. Some expatriates do indeed learn the language of their host country, while others do not.

I was thinking more along the lines of servicemen doing an overseas assignment. I think they should encourage their children to learn the local language since they are guests and it would be rude not to. However, if they know they are returning back to the states they want to keep up with their children's education.

I can't say I disagree with you here. In fact, I agree totally.

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