English needs to be the official language of the United States.
By not having an official language we are playing into the multi-cultural Utopian ideal that we can be a salad bowl or whatever metaphor instead of a melting pot. It doesn't work, the melting pot metaphor does work. The idea of African-American, Irish- American, Spanish-American, Whatever-American is backwards. We need to be Americans first and then whatever our heritage is second.
Multi-culturalism has never worked in any successful society that I am aware of. We need to encourage assimilation and not allow our country to have to cater to every single language there is (I believe it is about 300 spoken languages).
Right now I believe that the federal government mandates all government offices to provide translators when dealing with someone who cannot communicate in English. Driver's test are being given in Spanish.
Commonalities build bonds and builds a nation. English as the official language is a step towards making sure we maintain the American culture and our identity.
This also would eliminate a lot of cost that we now force on ourselves to deal with multiple languages.
I agree to a point. I too believe that English should be the American official language but you also have to remember that one of the things that makes America so great IS our individuality. So yes, be Americans first and foremost, but being your own person is important as well.
ReplyDeleteI think the English only movement is a tempest in a teapot. The immigrants, legal or illegal, learn English by the second generation. First generation always struggle with English. It is a difficult language, after all. And I don't see any problem with allowing driver's licenses to non-English speakers. I'd rather they had one so they can work and be productive members of the society.
ReplyDeleteOf greater concern is our own lack of ability with other languages. It impedes our ability to work with other nations in trade and diplomacy, but more importantly, seriously damages our ability to maintain espionage efforts. There are uncounted intercepts obtained by Homeland Security that may be important to protecting the US, but they don't have enough fluent personnel to translate those intercepts. That's much more of a concern to me.