Posted on 05/19/2006 1:24:24 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
HOUSTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush has long opposed making English the country's national language, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said on Friday, the day after the Senate voted to do so.
The vote came in an amendment to proposed legislation overhauling U.S. immigration law and directed the government to "preserve and enhance" the role of English. Opponents said it could affect the status of some multilingual services offered by government organizations.
Adding to the confusion, the Senate also adopted a softer amendment calling English the "unifying language" of the United States. Senators take both versions into negotiations over a final bill with the U.S. House of Representatives.
Gonzales did not directly address Bush's position on the controversial amendment because the Senate has not yet voted on the whole bill. But he said that Bush has in the past rejected such efforts.
"The president has never supported making English the national language," Gonzales said after meeting with state and local officials in Texas to discuss cooperation on enforcement of immigration laws.
He said Bush has instead long supported a concept called "English-Plus," believing that it was good to be proficient in more than one language.
"English represents freedom in our country and anybody who wants to be successful in our country has a much better chance of doing so if they speak English," Gonzales said. "It is of course a common language."
But, Gonzales said, "I don't see the need to have laws or legislation that says English is the national language."
While visiting Arizona on Thursday to press his plan to send up to 6,000 National Guard troops to the Mexican border spoke of the need to unite Americans.
"We've got to honor the great American tradition of the melting pot," Bush said. "Americans are bound together by shared ideals and appreciation of our history, of respect for our flag and ability to speak the English language."
Intervening in a recent furor over a Spanish-language version of the national anthem released by Latin pop stars, Bush said that the "Star-Spangled Banner" should be sung in English.
The United States currently has no official language and the amendment was showing signs of further inflaming an already incendiary issue, with Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada calling it "racist."
:)Easy Does It:)
I meant it didn't occur to them that the English language would one day be assaulted and challenged and that legislation would be proposed aimed to preserve it.
I am not trying to be obtuse. Ask your question again. I must not have understood it.
:)Easy Does It:)
No problem. My question, is what is the practical effect of English as an offical or national language statute? What effect will it have on the ground? How does it change anything? Thanks.
Take Manhattan, for example....
Where once the Dutch lived, exclusively, the English took over, the Dutch moved up north, then the English followed, and where slaves and free blacks once were buried, became yet another race and ethnics purview. The Irish took that area away from the "native born", followed by the Italians, who were then moved over by the middle Europeans and the Chinese.
Let's now move uptown some, to the East side...what was once immigrant Irish and European Jewish, suddenly became a venue for the "ELITE".
Up a bit farther ( Yorkville ), what was once mainly German and Hungarian, became YUPPIEVILLE.
And don't even get me started on the West side, because that's even MORE riddle with move up, move out, move higher, be invaded by a yet different ethnic group/s. Of course, there are the other four boroughs...take the Bronx; PLEASE!
All of these groups did MELT! Their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren and on and on and on...spoke English, assimilated, moved out of the "Little Italies, Germanies, Polands, Russias, Chinas, Hungaries, etc. and were just as much Americans, as those whose forebears came over on the Mayflower! And, by now, these groups have all intermarried, as well.
Are there places nobody in their right minds would venture into today? Yes. Is that something "new"? ABSOLUTELY NOT!
So what exactly is it, that you're trying to say, by obfuscating instead?
Or the author of this article is.
Do you know how many German speakers there were here, when America became America and in the early years of this nation?
By the way, these Dutch were big time into slavery (in the early 18th century, the most heavily slave area in the United States was Flatbush, 45% slave), and slave trading. The Dutch who came later, and moved to the Midwest, were militantly anti slavery. Ethnic history is complex.
Ben Franklin was worried, very worried. Krauts here, Krauts there, Krauts everywhere.
I thought that was it. Depending on what comes of the bill, whether or not it really becomes a national language will be the kicker.
If it does, then it could have a major bearing:
on assimilation.
Education and skill levels achieved by the immigrants.
As well as the political implications.
We stand a better chance of them being Republicans if they grow into individuals and away from identifying themselves as an ethnic group.
Learning English will help them accomplish that.
It will be much easier to identify potential illegals when hiring. This could lead to less illegals being hired.
If you think about it I'm sure you can see it will not be a zero effect.
:)Easy Does It:)
Just why do you think stating that English is the national language, will cause more to learn English more rapidly? Is it some deus ex machina thingy?
Yes, he was and feared that our national language would be German.
Oh really ?
Old German, that those in Germany could no longer easily understand, hung on all over the 18th century German settled US, until the mid 19th century, about 4 generations anyway. We still have the Amish. But then there was no TV and MTV, etc. Today, the kids get it down, and the grandkids, most of them, can't speak Spanish, because they are too dumb to learn a second language. That is why this language issue is such BS. It gives me a chuckle.
Radio and talking movies is what got earlier ADULT foreign speakers to learn English; not to mention assimilated into American "culture", faster. Their children learned English, quite quickly, in school and were the "interpretors for their parents and/or grandparents.
Ok, the turning point was 1928 (when talkies hit), rather than 1952 or so. An instant in time. My great Uncle lost his big salary when talkies came in.
Why...what did your uncle do?
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