Speak English, Please

   By Florida Bill                                             

                                          The United States is truly an exceptional nation.  But in its 200 plus years of existence--and I would bet that a lot of people do not know this--no one ever succeeded in making "English" the official language of the country.

                                              Routinely, proposals for "Official English" are introduced in Congress.  There is often a good deal of talk and predictions that it will become law, but ultimately the bill dies until its resurrection in a future session.  It seems like it ought to be a slam-dunk, but it isn't.
                                               In recent days and months, we have heard  President Donald Trump point to the importance of speaking English. In one debate, he criticized a former governor for electing to speak in Spanish rather than in English.  
                                             "We will stop apologizing for America, and we will start celebrating America," Trump has asserted. "We will be united by our common culture, values and principles, becoming one American nation, and one country, under one constitution,  saluting one American flag," 
                                             Currently a bill seeking designation of English as the official language has been introduced by Iowa Congressman Steve King.  A long-time proponent of English as the official language of the USA, King has importuned the new president to get behind the legislation. The bill is called the English Language Unity Act.   
                                              Europe, it might be noted, has some 50 nations and each has its own official language, and I suspect that residents have pride in their homeland, as America does.  Many Europeans actually speak more than one language which often includes English, but in their home territory there is an official tongue.  In Spain it is Spanish;  in France it is French; in Germany, it is German,  and in Italy, it is Italian.  The United Kingdom has declared English as its official language as have some surprising spots like Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.  Official English in many, many places---but not in the United States.  
                                              There are roughly thousands of  spoken languages in the world today.  The most popular tongue is Mandarin Chinese with 1.2 billion persons speaking that language.  If you go to China and insist on speaking a language other than Chinese, and then try to demand government services in your foreign tongue, you won't get too far.  What you will get is the China boot.                         
                                              America is the world's most generous and exceptional nation, where everything is laid out in the Constitution and Bill of Rights--but no language is official.  Thirty-two of the 50 sovereign states have enacted a law declaring English as its official and primary language inside its state lines, and five states currently have legislation pending toward that end. 
                                               So why isn't English the official language of the USA?  American English is the language used for legislation, regulations, executive orders, treaties, federal court rulings, and all other official pronouncements so why not clear the table and have "English" receive its rightful and legitimate blessing. Then there would be something to back us up when we say to our legal (and illegal) visitors, "Learn English!" 
                                            Researchers tell us that around 90 per cent of Americans, both Republicans and Democrats, favor the declaration, yet the years pass and legislation is considered, but nothing ever happens.  Somehow, with "political correctness" going full tilt, the idea of requiring immigrants to learn English is seen in liberal corners as a "tool of oppression," bordering on racism.  
                                           Former President Obama believed that immigrants ought to learn English, but he saw a declaration by the nation that English is its official language as sort of unsportsman-like to immigrants. As a senator from Illinois, Obama voted four times against bills calling for English as the national language.  It's unfair to immigrants to face this language burden, argued Obama, who has suggested that instead, Americans just learn to speak Spanish and then everyone would be bilingual. 
                                            The late, Phyllis Schafley of Illinois, a prominent and conservative lawyer, was a critic of Senator and President Obama and a passionate proponent of the philosophy that when in America, you speak English. She often criticized President Obama for his negative voice against having English as the official language of the United States, and for his other liberal and anti-patriotic positions. 
                                            President Obama stood in real contrast to other presidents.  One, in particular, Theodore Roosevelt, had plenty to say on the subject, as he extended a warm and friendly hand to immigrants, but there were caveats. 
                                          "In the first place," he said, "we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith and becomes an American and assimilates himself to us--  he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else... There can be no divided allegiance here.  Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, is not an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language ... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
                                            Rep. King has been congress' fiercest advocate of official English in America and particularly when applied to immigrants.  King has argued that establishing an official language like other countries would bring consistency and unity. With President Trump, whose patriotism and love of country is worn on his sleeve, and who has said that under his administration, "America will come first,"  there is optimism that "English" will at long last become the official language of the United States.  

                                                 XXX