LG>Mike, nowhere in any laws requiring a knowledge of the English language
LG>in order to achieve the status of U.S. citizen, is the caveat that the
LG>new citizen then has to switch to English as his standard language. It
LG>merely insures that people who come to this country and claim as their
LG>own benefits associated with citizenship at least have a handle on the
LG>language of the people of this country.
MA> 
MA> First I take issue with any claim that English is the "language
MA> of the people of this country."  It may be the language of the
MA> majority; it may be the language of the government; but to say it is
MA> the language of the people is to claim that all Americans speak
MA> English.  That simply is not true.
What is the language of Japan, Mike? (I'll give you a hint: no matter the
fact that there may be someone living there who speaks only English, or
only Spanish, or only French, the language is *Japanese*) 
In France, no matter that there are people living there who don't speak
French, the language is *French*.
MA> It is my personal belief that while we place emphasis on such
MA> unimportant things as the nation a person comes from or the language
MA> they speak, 
Yeppir. Entirely unimportant things, the language a person speaks. Why, a 
person who doesn't speak English can be such a tremendous asset to the 
United States. When he is fulfilling his obligation of being an informed 
part of his country's political process, I'm sure he can make his decisions 
by the color of the candidates' billboards. Or if his country has to call 
him up for service, his commanding officers can surely use some kind of 
pidgin sign language to communicate orders. Should he be called to jury
duty, we can surely provide his own personal interpreter (would only 
disrupt the court a *little*).
LG>I am *very* distrustful of the motives of anyone who so desparately wan
LG>to become a citizen here that they can't be troubled to learn the langu
LG>Makes me wonder if what they see in this marvelous new country is a fre
LG>ticket, rather than a bag of bright shining opportunity.
MA> 
MA> And I am distrustful of the motives of a people who place more
MA> value in the language a man speaks than the values he holds in his
MA> heart.  
S'okay. Having established, noted and commented upon our mutual mistrust,
I suppose we may now carry foreward.
I will say it again. The person who immigrates to a new country, and then
attempts to live his life in the same way he lived it in his old country
shows no great affinity for his new land. He shows no intent to contribute,
but rather demonstrates loud and clear that he is there for his own
benefit only.
And the language of the United States is English.
MA> Learning a language is not the easiest of things to
MA> accomplish. If it were, we would all speak several languages.  
Taking up residence in a foreign country is not the easiest thing in the
world to do either. Since things not easy should not be...should all
immigration be halted?
MA> Once citizenship is gained, some never use English again
MA> since no real need exists for them to do so.  
No real need? How then do they vote? By listening to others' spin on the
issues?
How then do they fulfill the obligations of armed services when their 
country calls?
Both of these are duties imposed as part of the price of freedom. 
How do they answer the call to civil duty in the event of a jury summons?
How do they propose to meet the requirements for education without
requiring *someone* to learn a foreign language? And why should it be
native born people who never left their homeland's responsibilty
to become the coerced? Where's your First Amendment's red herring
protection for these people?
How 'bout employers, Mike? You for legally allowing business owners who
wish to excercise *their* "First Amendment" rights to post "English 
Speaking Only Need Apply" signs? 
Direct to you from the keyboard of Larry Gault...
      
... Ever get the feeling your guardian angel is laughing?
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.20 [NR]
-*- SF-Quick/BW 1.00r [#48]
--- Alexi/Mail 2.02b (#10000)
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