laudable matt, but moot.

studies clearly conclude that the 2d gen uses english as a primary, & by the 3d, english is the exclusive tongue.

comprende?

Unfortunately this is something that should have been done long ago and likely could not be achieved to day as there would be far larger protests of people screaming discrimination and yelping about how it would make that much harder for poor legal immigrants to assimilate... not to mention the illegal aliens:

"We’ve already come into your country illegally and shown our disrespect for your laws... why should we even think about learning your gringo language as well?"

Absolutely! We do need an amendment to the constitution to officially make English our official language.

A common language is helps make a nation strong. It's citizens must be able to communicate with and understand each other.

How many tens or hundreds of billions of dollars is it costing the US?

It used to be that when immigrants came to America, they learned English. Now, we have the millions of Mexicans who think America is part of Mexico and want "their" language to be the official language. Many seem unwilling to learn English. The courts have obliged them too. Federal, state, and local governments are providing duplicate programs in Spanish at the taxpayer's expense. There is the cost to the federal, state, and local governments of printing everything in English and Spanish. We have duplicate federal, state, and local programs to support the Spanish speaking immigrants, millions of whom are here in violation of our laws. We had duplicate schools, teachers, and classes in Spanish paid for by taxpayers. The list goes on and on and on.

We need a Constitutional Amendment to stop courts from mandating Spanish speaking schools, classes, and other programs at the taxpayer's expense. We need a Constitutional Amendment to stop all of the duplicate federal, state, and local programs in Spanish. Most of all, we need a Constitutional Amendment so all Americans can communicate with each other. We do not need a diversity of languages that weakens America.

This is America. It is not Mexico. English -- American English -- is America's language. Learn English or leave! If illegal immigrants want to speak Spanish, go back to Mexico or speak with their family and friends, but learn English.

Now is the right time too while the illegal aliens are marching in the streets demanding "their" rights. We have the attention of the American people, most of whom are getting fed up with Mexicans trying to take over our country. We must take advantage of times like this when people are focused on a particular issue.

We also do have to wait for Congress to approve an amendment. The states can convene a Constitutional Convention and approve an amendment if Ted Kennedy and other liberal Democrats want to continue to obstruct and block actions with their filibusters and threats of filibusters.

I think we should proceed with both approaches at the same time. We have never tried the Constitutional Convention approach and we need to work out the details.

We need some Representatives and Senators to push the issue now -- both state and federal.

We need some vocal support from our politicians, talk show hosts, and others to coordinate and push the effort.

In the meantime, write, a-mail, or call your Representatives and Senators and ask them to get moving. Ask your friends, relatives, and associates to do the same. Write letters to the editor of your local papers asking others to help. Ask the bloggers to post it on their sites.

We need to get the ball rolling -- NOW!

Matt... I think you or Mark could use some national air time on Fox News!

AAR

My congressman Peter King(R) of New York submits a proposal to make English the offical language every year. He can never get it passed by the House.

This doesn't seem to be a very popular issue with our politicans - unfortunately.

Actually, back in the early 90s there was a group out there raising money for that exact purpose. If I remember correctly it was called U S ENGLISH. In the summer of 1992, I was working as a telemarketer and that was one of the groups I raised money for, don't know what happened to the organization once I stopped telemarketing.

Maybe some smart congressman could attach it to the gay marriage amendment?

Barneyg2000,

Let's hope so.

I think both can be taken care of at the same time if we can get the states to convene a constitutional convention.

I also have other amendments to offer to rein in the activist courts and fix some of the other areas under attack by liberals!

We just need to get someone moving.

AAR

Matt,

What do you forsee as the ramifications of such a declaration? Would there no longer be a Spanish option when we call the cable company? No more English as a Second Language courses for immigrants?

Ash,

I would think that if English was made the official language, the "English as a Second Language" courses would get a boost because legal immigrants (I feel that there are no illegal immigrants, just illegal aliens, as immigration is legal) would be compelled to learn English.

A-10

I guess that makes sense. I'm bitter because I took college level Spanish 6 semesters and failed 3 of them. I just had no ear for languages. I ended up taking Latin to complete my degree. Which has actually helped my vocabulary.

Ash,

Is that what's important to you. No extra buttons to push and irritate Americans when they want to talk to a person about a problem?

I take it that you are opposed (publicly in front of your liberal friends at least) to illegal immigrants speaking English! Is it not enough that we provide them with jobs, free medical care, and a better standard of living? Must we now have to learn their language to so we can make it even easier for them to get those benefits?

NOT IN MY BOOK WE DON'T! Learn English, hire their own translator, or go back to Mexico. We won't stop them. In fact, I'll even support providing them some taxpayer funded maps it that will help!!!

How much does it cost American businesses, local and state governments, the federal government, and the American economy to provide all of those duplicate services? How many of those costs are ultimately passed on to the American consumer? All are!

Why should the American taxpayer pay for "English as a second language for immigrants"? How about having them pay for their own classes or figure out some way to learn English before they get here! (Don't let that worry you though. Those classes will still be taught!)

And... if the immigrants learn English as those have who came before the current "illegal invasion", we won't need those extra Spanish options or the other billions of dollars in extra costs for providing Spanish versions of everything for their convenience... at the taxpayer's or consumer's cost, will we?

And before you ask. I would encourage anyone to learn more than one language if that suits them... but speak English first!

AAR

This is just another silly strawman cooked up by the Rightwing to divide and conquer. Bin Laden, would love you guys on the Right. There are millions of "illegals" in the street demanding to become Americans and you Rightwing nut-jobs join al Queda and scream hate speech at them. Sad. Peace

Yeah, there's nothing more important than making English the official language.

This might get traction if it wasn't coming from a blog that revere's a President who mangles the English language to make him look like a regular guy and not an elite.

Change is good!!

You do know that if English is the official language, you have create a whole new government department to write the standards and regulations. You need a department to monitor the usage, and enforce the laws. Is that what you “small government” conservatives want? Do you want to emanate the French and the Canadians? In Canada, even the gang-bangers have to write their graffiti in English and French.

Why not make the country's official language English. I don't see a problem with it. Shortly thereafter, we should also make the official official gas we breathe, Oxygen and declare the official star of the United States, the sun. It is the official language of business, politics and communication worldwide and, of course, in the U.S.

There is absolutely no danger in it not being the primary language of this country. If declaring it the official language makes people feel good than, by all means, let's waste all our political capital and energy writing it into the Constitution when there are so many more pressing issues in this country. The people pushing for this "burning issue" are obviously those who feel threatened by hearing the mere mention of another language being spoken in this country, especially Spanish since that just means more Hispanics. Its Xenophobia at its finest. Guess what, this is a free country. People are free to speak whatever language they damn well please. Making it the "official language" will not stop people from speaking other languages. As our Latin-speaking poster, Ash, above mentioned, it is not easy to learn a new language and no matter what, people who immigrate to this country legally or otherwise are NEVER going to speak English like a native speaker. You people act like immigrants come in and decide that this country is going to speak Spanish now. No... it is hard to learn a new language, especially English and especially for people with lower educational attainment. I personally speak three languages fluently and can "get by" in several more. We should be encouraging Americans to speak more languages not less. It's called getting an education people. Might be useful.

Lastly, for all the immigrant bashers... please look at the latest state of the construction industry (and many others). They have been having labor shortages for years. You know why, because demographics have given them the short end of the stick. Our population is aging. The largest generation in history (also the least procreative), the baby boomers are retiring and soon to be dying off and they did not have enough children to make up for it. Our native born population is aging considerably and actually has a negative population growth if you take out the immigrants (legal or otherwise). How do you expect this country to progress... fill key jobs in the industries that are key to our growth, like construction, manufacturing, farming etc., when our population is aging. Immigrants, that's how. Other countries are dying to import immigrants because their largely affluent, population is getting older and they need the labor.

We have been doing this for hundreds of years. It works. The greatness of this country, its progress... is all due to immigrants. Hell, even Mark Noonan, somewhere down the line is related to someone who immigrated to this country (and not necessarily legally, I might add). So why, now, of all times, are we making it extremely difficult for immigrants to get into this country (particularly from our closest neighboring countries) when the need for the labor is so high. These barriers are what make the immigrants legal or illegal. Any economist will tell you, people flow to where there are jobs, barriers or no barriers. Even the Okies back in the day came out to California in droves when there was promise of good jobs and opportunity to get them away from the dustbowl that had become their lands and lives. They eventually stopped coming when there were no longer jobs to be filled. Californians hated them though because they were uneducated and spoke funny (Grapes of Wrath anyone). Thank God they kept coming though.

Our President has it right. We need to create a legal mechanism for these people to come in and fill the low-wage jobs that need filling. It is free-market capitalism my friends. You can't create artificial barriers and then bitch and moan about them when, somehow, people manage to fill those jobs anyway. The guest-worker program makes sense. It creates a legal way for people to fill jobs here in the US that need to filled. Especially since it encourages people to come and then go back home.

Right now, when immigrants come over for a job they can never go back home again, because of the extraordinary risks they take to get over the border. So guess what--you're worst nightmare--they put down roots here and have babies... lots of them. So the inept immigration policies we have in place actually encourage people to settle here. Go figure.

Let's not let our emotions run away with our senses people. The business community, the Republican party, the President, are all aware of the importance of immigrants to our economy. It is no secret. We compete on a global scale with many other countries whose labor costs are way lower than ours and whose supply of labor is higher.

People are so emotional about this issue... "Go back to Mexico" and all this angry vitriol, that they don't even think of the ramifications of 12 million people leaving a country. 12 million people who do almost ALL the construction labor, much of the hospitality business, restaurant workers, landscapers. 12 million people who purchase at least $300 million worth of goods a year. 12 million who pay rent. 12 million who pay taxes. 12 million who make up a good portion of the population of the states of Texas, California, Florida and New York. Don't be naive people.

Getting rid of the illegals is not going to make this country less Hispanic. Already, over 50% of the babies born in California are Hispanic. Texas is getting close. You are not ever, ever going to see less Hispanic faces in this country so you might as well get used to it. Oh, and stop talking about "but but but they're illegal." They are only illegal because we haven't gotten off our asses to create a system that actually works.

p.s. I have never seen so many anti-business, anti-capitalism, anti-globalism Republicans in the same place.

OhioOrin

You obviously don't live in California like I do and millions of others. English is hardly the primary language for many people.

Oh, no, you misunderstood me, or I didn't make myself clear. I say in front of everyone that immigrants should speak English. My story about Spanish is one I tell often in a self deprecating way. It also rules out I would ever move to Mexico.

I firmly believe you should speak the majority language wherever you live. My experience in Europe (Switzerland) has colored that opinion. Most Swiss can speak English, French, German and Italian. I always wished I could speak to them in their native tounge.

The revious post was addressed to A-10. I forgot the salutation.

Ash

I'm all for English as the official language. It speaks volumes as to our cultural heritage, of which I am proud. No attempt at making me feel guilty by the leftists will change my pride in my heritage. The Hispanics are proud of their heritage, too. They can speak Spanish as the official language in any number of Hispanic-dominant countries, whose cultures were handed down from Spain. If I go there, I'll learn to speak Spanish.

As reported by Think Progress, your boy loved singing the national anthem in Spanish when it met a political need:
“When visiting cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, or Philadelphia, in pivotal states, he would drop in at Hispanic festivals and parties, sometimes joining in singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” in Spanish, sometimes partying with a “Viva Bush” mariachi band flown in from Texas.”

You guys must really hate Bush now.

Ash:

I also live in California. It is a fact that US born Hispanics are mostly English-dominant. Every study ever done shows that every new generation born in the country is more English-focused. It is the foreign-born who have the most trouble speaking English. Their children born in the US speak broken Spanish, while their English (from all-English schooling) is much better than their Spanish. Their grandchildren, in all likelihood speak little to no Spanish at all. I know it is hard to reconcile this fact with what we hear living in California. The truth is, there are a lot of foreign-born Hispanics in California, so naturally, you will hear more Spanish. But our personal experiences do not always cooincide with the facts. The children of immigrants almost always end up speaking English better than their foreign tongue. Corporate America has been studying this phenomonen for years and so have the politicians. There are many studies that confirm this.

Ash,

I think you meant AAR. You had already responded to me and AAR challenged you on your English as a Secodn Language stance.

Are the Cons on this site so insecure with themselves that they need an official language for this country? Truly pathetic.

Yes, it's annoying to have the language option on the ATM, but it's there to help someone out. Who really cares?

Barney, do you have a link to that? I wonder what the Cons will have to say about their Decider-in-Chief singing the Star-Spangled Banner in Espanol.

And I wonder how many of these Cons actually get out of Kansas & West Virginia to visit other parts of the world, to experience other cultures, where different languages are spoken.

Educate yourself - study a new language. Enrich your mind. You might actually (gasp!) learn something.

Sorry A's I'm in the middle of a senior moment. My apologies.

Try this for “Bush’s highly-scripted 2001 inaugural ceremony actually featured a rendition of the national anthem sung in Spanish by Jon Secada.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/02/national-anthem-sung-in-spanish-at-first-bush-inaugural/

And this for “during Bush’s first presidential campaign, he would often sing the national anthem in Spanish.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/05/02/bush-sing-spanish/

Mark, your silence to all this rabble is deafening. I think you're right. They should include this as part of the immigration debate. It is a minor and useless concession that will satisfy the irrational, anti-business xenophobes in your party, so they can save face with their consistuents while reconciling with your pro-business, pro-immigrant party members (and the President). It's perfect. Tancredo can say, "see, now they'll speak good English so you won't be annoyed" and Bush can say... "let's get this immigration reform rolling once and for all." Meanwhile, immigrants will still continue to speak the language they are most comfortable in, especially around others who speak the same language.

Just look how much work tight-assed white people will do to avoid having to learn a second language. O, the Horror!

Look what happened to Hong Kong when the handover happened 9 years ago.

Only fascists want to kill multiculturalism.

How is that possible for Bush to speak in those languages? Considering he's dumb and all?

LOL

"How is that possible for Bush to speak in those languages? Considering he's dumb and all?"

This is true.

GodOfBiscuits, maf53,

It's opinions like yours and other liberals that confirm the need for a Constitutional Amendment making English our official language!

Too much multiculturalism and diversity will weaken and destroy a nation!

How can that be when liberals tell us these are good things? Think about it!!!

AAR

Settle down, maf, etc.

An Official English resolution is not based on insecurity, or racism, or any of the other silly lefty straw men you guys strain to invent.

For one thing, it's a matter of economics. It costs a huge amount of money to double-print government documents to accommodate the Spanish-speaking among us.

It's a matter of fairness. How long will it be before other ethnic groups demand the same kind of special treatment? How many languages would we have to include to be fair to all?

And it's a matter of national unity. It is obvious how unstable a country can be when a large group of immigrants sets up a de facto mini-country within the borders of the host country, speaking the native language, wearing native clothing, eating native foods, isolating itself from the host country, and then rebelling in violence when they can't get jobs---I'm thinking of the Algerian uprising in France as an example.

We have much the same thing here. The movie "Spanglish" was a comedy but had the kernel of truth in it, as a young woman was able to live in LA for years without learning a word of English. I know some Peruvian people in LA who have been there about ten years (legally) and have never learned to speak English---they don't have go, because they live in a Spanish neighborhood, work for Spanish-speaking companies, and remain isolated in their little mini-country by their inability to communicate in our language.

And it's a matter of dignity. The people I just mentioned are not happy about being second-class residents, but they are, and they know it. Their daughter speaks good English, getting better every day, and is an example of the freedom they do not have. She can go anywhere in the country, shop, eat, drive, get directions, meet new people. Her parents can't do that---and as long as they remain sheltered in their mini-country it's hard for them to make themselves learn.

And it is also a matter of national pride. I live in a county full of immigrants from, literally, all over the world. Today at the market I must have heard eight languages. But each of those people was able to negotiate the checkout stand in English---except the Mexicans. We did not have to provide checkers for various African dialects, or German, or French, or Czech, or Polish, or Dutch. But our market has had to seek out checkers who can speak Spanish, and the line at those registers is nearly all Mexicans. You don't think they feel set apart, isolated? But we encourage it. It's kind of condescending on our part, I think, to assume that people from other countries can learn English but we can never expect the poor Mexicans to be able to do that.

Maf,

insecure???

As a taxpayer, I resent having to fund translators for non-english speakers, most of whom are illegals, while they take advantage of free healthcare services at our hospitals. I also resent having to fund translations at the local state and federal level to assist non-english speakers to feed at the benefits trough.

Government mandated multi-lingualism has only served to separate French and English speaking Canada. Try to sell a product there and you have to have the instructions for use in two languages. Which is nothing compared to the European Union where you have to have 15 languages, soon to be 25.

I am not opposed to learning and speaking another language. In fact I am fluent in three. I just don't want to fund the convenience of others. Nor do I want to see our culture changed.

Go Biscuits...you sound like a racist bigot.

*Shakes head*

What does supporting Bush have to do with wanting English as an official language? Heck we've disagreed with the President on many occasions and voiced those disagreements. Most notably when it comes to immigration. So can we get past that now?

What is wrong with declairing English the official language of the USA? I can't think of a single country in the world that doesn't have an "official language" or two. (Canada comes to mind)

BTW, it's already a requirement to know English to be a legal immigrant. Heck my Grandmother could barely speak any English but she could understand it enough to Immigrate. Along the lines of the study mentioned above my Father speaks Chinese with an "American Accent" and I don't know 5 words of Chinese. (I actually know more Japanese and Spanish than Chinese!)

ByePartisan,

Yes it must be easier for kids to learn a new languge. I once lived in a neighborhood called the Hill in St. Louis. It was home to Italian immigrants. All the kids spoke English and spoke it well. But there were some parents or grandparents that never did learn to speak I English. But it was such a self contained neighborhood they didn't have to. It was fun listening and watching Italians in an animated conversation. And the food.........

"As a taxpayer, I resent having to fund translators for non-englis....."

Well phnx, then you will understand how I feel about funding a war that is immoral...........

Maf

So if it's true, how is he doing it?

Also, if it's true how does he keep beating those stellar Democrats in elections?

LOL

To conclude that all protestors and illegal immigrants are Mexicans is wrong. hmm did El Salvador, Guatemala, Peru, Costa Rica, and South American disappear?

Ash:

I'm familiar with the Hill... great restaurants out there. It's the only place I go for dinner when I'm visiting St. Louis. Yes kids do learn the language because they are being schooled in the language. The older folks get left behind with regards to speaking English, and I know its not for a lack of trying. Sure there are enclaves where it makes life easier for the immigrants if they don't speak English and I admit that this probably doesn't help them much. Nonetheless, there is a HUGE cottage industry of companies selling ESL courses... the most famous being one called "Ingles sin Barreras" English without barriers. These companies handily sell $500 sets of videos / audiotapes to people who can barely afford rent. I just take umbrage to the assumption that "these people don't want to learn English." I work with and am friends with immigrants (both legal and otherwise) and am quite aware of their trials and tribulations. I know how much they struggle to learn English and they are painfully aware of the opportunities that they miss out on with their lacking language skills. It stuns me that people actually think that you can just snap your fingers and learn a language. Even people who studied languages in college don't have decent mastery of these languages.

That said, making English the official language is not completely off base. It just seems like there are more important things to worry about. Just don't think its going to save any of our tax dollars... there will still be non-English speakers in this country who will need interpreters in court and translated documents etc. Every country in the world has foreigners that live and work within their borders. Some countries are even trying to entice people to move there because they are having an aging population and need the labor that younger people usually take on.

"Also, if it's true how does he keep beating those stellar Democrats in elections?" - Warrior

I wish I knew. Perhaps those of his ilk in this country outnumber those who oppose him? That's usually how elections are won. It doesn't mean he's right, though.

"As a taxpayer, I resent having to fund translators for non-english speakers ..." - Phnx

There are a lot of things I resent having to fund. See: Bush's Holy War.

"An Official English resolution is not based on insecurity, or racism, or any of the other silly lefty straw men you guys strain to invent." - Almi

Hmm, did you read AAR's post: "Too much multiculturalism and diversity will weaken and destroy a nation!" Weaken & destroy? Sounds pretty insecure to me.

Bye,

Learning a language is only part of the problem, you have to practise it be be proficient. If you don't speak a foreign language for a lenghty period of time, you get rusty.

BTW: maybe we can send some of our illegals to those countries you talk about above.

Ash,

Sorry I don't see the parallel.

Bye,

I rented a small apartment when I first got married ($65 a month, to date myself) across the street from Rigazzi's. If you haven't eaten there I highly recommend it. (And the frosted fishbowls of Michelob are to die for)

I agree that there are too many important issues to spend much time on English as our official language. Like I mentioned in an earlier post I failed miserably in college Spanish classes. So I would cut some slack for those immigrants that try but have trouble learning English.

BTW: Where did you come from. You make way too much sense to be posting here!

I'm pretty sure I've been to Rigazzi... My clients take me out to the Hill when I come to visit, but I can't for the life of me remember where (I should keep track of these things). Also, what's up with the fried raviolis in St. Louis? As for where I come from... every once in a while I feel the need to see what the "blogosphere" is off and ranting about. For variety, I promised myself I would visit a right wing blog and a left wing blog when the urge struck. If you go to the sites that only preach to your particular choir then you start to lose sight that the rest of the country doesn't always see things exactly like you do. You start to rethink your entrenched positions or at least seek to find rational reasons for them (as opposed to emotion). This is the right wing blog I've chosen for whatever reason. I find that, like many other blogs across the political spectrum, it is inhabited by plenty of intelligent people with common sense and rationality but also its regular share of people who are blinded by emotion and who live isolated in their respective ideological silos. I see this on the lefty blogs too.

At any rate, I don't do it often, but every once in a while I poke my head in to see what people are up to. The blogs offer great insight into how people (usually the more radical of us) think in this country on both extremes. My wife yells at me "are you blogging again," never mind that I'm not actually blogging, but just commenting on other people's blogs.

ByePartisan,

Thanks for making the effort, and thanks for taking the time to offer substantive and coherent feedback. I hope to see you here again soon...

"Also, what's up with the fried raviolis in St. Louis?"

Ah, a rare delicacy, my friend. In fact since I have moved to Colorado that is the thing I miss most. A close second is Gus's Pretzels. Get your clients to take you there the next time you're in town. If they don't know about it, it's at Lemp and Arsenal. Mmmmm

A radical lefty talk show host in Denver, Craig Silverman, recently said---and this is a very accurate representation of what he said, if not a direct quote...

'Yes, I believe that we should have only one language in this country---but why does it have to be English? What's wrong with Spanish?'

Craig doesn't think of himself as radical, but his opinions speak for themselves, and when I heard him spout this, only the latest of his inanities, I turned off the station and haven't gone back. There is honest debate on issues, and then there is lunacy. And too many liberals descend into lunacy. Whether they really believe what they say, or just have knee-jerk reactions to anything put forth by moderates and conservatives, I have no idea. But saying something this stupid is just a conversation-stopper. And too many people believe that being human speed bumps is the same as participating in true debate on issues.