B"H

Monday, September 14, 2009

Legislating English as the Official Language of the U. S. A.


A thought to consider -

I believe that our Constitution prohibits Congress from establishing English as the official language of our nation.

People have the right to assemble as a group and speak their minds even in a way that is not comprehensible to many or even most other Americans.

There are so many precedents. At one time, there were a large number of "foreign language" newspapers published in New York City (and other cities). [need citation]

The Old Order Amish of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, refrain from teaching and speaking English as much as possible. The State of Pennsylvania has come to terms, sometimes with difficulty, with the Amish lifestyle.

On the other hand, those who wish to refrain from learning to speak English cannot expect to receive public funds to teach their children in their language or to have public documents translated at taxpayer expense, for example.

We use our liberties at our own peril.

1 comment:

  1. I disagree, as an american, I feel we should have a set language and no where in the constitution does it declare that we cannot as a people set a national language. I feel it would unite us more to say that the official language is english. France has french, Italy has italian, Canada has french, Germany has german etc...etc...we are one of the few countries that do not have a distinguished language. It doesn't neccessarily have to be english but it could be american...it could compose of the ebonics and slang that we have lazily gotten so used to.

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