Actually Switzerland has ONE central statement of political values (their constitution). They do not have four constitutions. You have an INSISTENCE that values are language dependent. This is, simply speaking, balderdash. You insist on this obvious falsehood because you know that to admit the obvious will harm your "English speaking only" vision of America. I can drive thru Michigan on Sunday a.m. and hear dutch or german sermons. The largest Farsi newspaper in the world is in Los Angeles. Many Chinese establishments print menus in Chinese. There are communities in NYC where only Yiddish is spoken. English predominates in all these areas, and those who don't assimilate are at a disadvantage AND THEY KNOW IT. They are like the Amish. Weird, but only a threat to those obsessed with everyone conforming. This country is about FREEDOM, not about cultural assimilation. The ones who want to get ahead assimilate, just as UNIVISION recognizes. This Hispanic TV station is launching an ENGLISH LANGUAGE soap opera because "so many second generation latinos do not speak Spanish." My wife and I sat next to a kid on the plane from San Juan PR to Miami who was headed to Miami and then to LA, on a marketing project for "Spanglish" radio spots, kind of a pidgin texmex goo that is kind of like hiphop jive. The point to this is that cultures do NOT stay static, separated, or isolated. Everyone wants to come to the USA and get rich, and the ones who get here and want to succeed know they have to learn English eventually to really get ahead. The idea that there are droves of 3rd and 4th generations of hispanics (or any other people group) who simply refuse to learn english is the product of the fevered paranoid minds of buchanan clones, not the result of research.
It isn't balderdash; it's a FACT. As far as how people speak to each other in their churches, in their homes, or in their cars, I COULD CARE LESS! The government, however, SHOULD NOT be spending TAXPAYER money to communicate in languages NOT English, such as for voting/driving/education, etc. People should be required to speak this country's language at schools and with government officials, not the other way around.
Not that you'll be interested in reading anything at this site, but I'm posting an excerpt to a 1995 article, with points that are still as relevant today as when it was written, and link just the same, in case others/lurkers are:
by Rep. Toby Roth
Having English as our official language simply means that the primary language of instruction in schools is English, and that you vote and deal with the government in English. People will still be able, even encouraged, to speak and learn a foreign language, and preserve their heritage. The only significant difference will be that government actively reinforces our common language rather than erodes it.For almost every American, this is just common sense. Just recently a USA Today Weekend Magazine poll found that 97 percent of respondents wanted to declare English our official language.
In the past, our nation has been a shining example of how people from every background can live and work together in harmony. I want to keep America one nation, one people. We must preserve the common bond that has kept this country of immigrants together for more than two centuries by making English our official language. Our future as a united nation depends on it.
[snip]