Make English The Official Language!
By Dave Gibson (04/18/05)
Can you imagine the wave of immigrants coming to America around the turn of the 20th century, choosing not to learn English or worse yet...allowing their children to wallow in their laziness and never learn English? Those immigrants (mostly Europeans) assimilated and carved-out good lives for their families. However, too many of today's immigrants seem to believe that we should adopt their language and culture.
Many school districts, particularly those in the American Southwest now offer "English as a second language" courses. U.S. Public Schools are filled with children who cannot speak a word of English! Of course, the most predominant language amongst new immigrants (many of them are illegal) is Spanish. Can you imagine a Mexican school teaching Spanish as a second language?
I know that I am not the only English-speaking American who has grown tired of sitting through a litany of Spanish instructions, each time I have the misfortune to phone a customer service line. Beyond the irritating effects of having a foreign language forced upon us--it is costing private businesses as well as the taxpayers untold sums of money.
Around the country, municipalities are being forced to hire bilingual police officers, teachers, and social workers. The language barrier is becoming so vast that many cities and counties have no choice but to hire extra employees, fluent mainly in Spanish.
There is one politician who is trying to stop the erosion of our language. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) has introduced the English Language Unity Act. The measure would make English the official language of the United States. It would also require immigrants to be able to speak English with some degree of proficiency, before being granted citizenship.
It is not the first time Rep. King has introduced this bill. Hopefully, the Congress will have the good sense to pass it this time...But don't hold your breath.
It is not only current English-speaking U.S. residents who would benefit from the bill, but new immigrants would as well. As Rep. King said: "English is the language of opportunity."
Chairman of U.S. English Inc. ( a non-profit organization, devoted to making English the official language of the U.S.) Mauro E. Mujica recently said: "More than 92 percent of the nations in the world have an official language policy to facilitate communication and assist assimilation. Yet the United States clings to a costly and divisive system of providing services in multiple languages, including Social Security information in 16 languages and ballots in 28 languages. By doing so, we have taken away some of the incentive for immigrants to learn English, and for English language learning assistance."
There are currently 329 languages spoken in the United States.
The English Language Unity Act of 2005 would force all U.S. government agencies to conduct their business in English. Thus, any immigrant seeking assistance from the U.S. taxpayers would have an incentive to learn the language very quickly.
It is completely absurd to think that I as an American, could re-locate to say China or Honduras and expect never to learn the predominant language and succeed. Any new immigrant to the U.S. has a much better chance at success, if they are able to speak English. Why is that so difficult for our politicians to understand?
Contact your Congressman today and urge him to support the English Language Unity Act!
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