I’ve gone on and on about this topic so many times I’m starting to bore myself, but this is indeed a welcome development:
You might have thought the United States had an official language, considering it was founded by British colonizers who were looking for religious freedom and wanted to distance themselves from the overbearing English monarchy. Virtually all official documents in our republic have been penned in the English language, from the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution on down, but for some reason, it has never been designated as our official national tongue.
That all changed on Saturday, as President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order mandating that we now have one unifying language tying us all together.
Nothing repeat nothing has the power to divide a society when we aren’t able to communicate with each other. I speak here after having grown up in an officially bilingual country and seeing for myself how bitterly divisive that can be.
And I absolutely do not care if newcomers to this country are unable to understand what’s going on because they don’t understand English. The English expression for that is “tough shit”, and that might as well be the first expression — and concept — that should be learnt when the huddled masses arrive here.
I’m not going to hold up other nations as examples — although try conducting any kind of official business in France without understanding French — and considering that our republic’s foundation was laid upon the English language, we have been foolish in not establishing that principle from the outset.
And frankly, Margaret, I don’t actually care if that seems cruel or uncaring to the newly-arrived. If we choose to accommodate foreigners by posting signs that read “Itt magyarul beszélnek“ or whatever, it is purely an accommodation and not an obligation.
To quote POTUS:
From the founding of our Republic, English has been used as our national language. Our Nation’s historic governing documents, including the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, have all been written in English. It is therefore long past time that English is declared as the official language of the United States. A nationally designated language is at the core of a unified and cohesive society, and the United States is strengthened by a citizenry that can freely exchange ideas in one shared language…
Accordingly, this order designates English as the official language of the United States.
