Tuesday, April 11, 2006
English First Cited by Rush Limbaugh Today
Imagine my surprise to hear an old article of mine quoted from by Rush Limbaugh on his show today. You can read the full article, "Will Noncitizens Decide the Election," here.
I did not hear the entire program, so I can't really comment upon what Rush said. The point of my article was show how one political party in 1996, in this case the Democrats, sought to manipulate the "learn English" requirement of both the 1986 amnesty and the long-standing English requirement dating back to the turn of the 20th century.
This is why I remain aggressively unimpressed with the English "requirements" contained in the McCain-Kennedy-whoever "compromise" immigration bill. There is no way to force someone to learn English who does not wish to do so. Even if there were, those doing the enforcing of any "learn English" requirement are generally not interested in being strict. Political considerations alone will ensure that someone who can spell "cat" after ten tries will pass someone's idea of an English test.
Now making the government address everyone in English, just as the Mexican government addresses all in Spanish, is something that can be done and easily enforced. Once immigrants learn that if they need a translator, it is their job -- not ours -- to bring one, a good many more immigrants will be investigating English classes.
This idea, making the government speak only English, is precisely what Senator James Inhofe (R-OK)'s proposed amendment to the immigration bill would do. Senate Democrats blocked a vote on the Inhofe amendment last week. Wonder why?
You can e-mail your two Senators in support of the Inhofe amendment here.
|posted by Jim on 4:38 PM|
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