President Trump signed an executive order designating English as the official language of the U.S. It will be instructive to see which Far Left anti-Americans freak out over this move. I do not believe there is a legitimate, ethical, responsible, historically-based argument to oppose it
The order rescinds a Clinton policy requiring agencies to provide assistance programs for people with limited English proficiency. Agencies shouldn’t hire employees with limited English proficiency. The EO allows agencies to voluntarily keep those support systems in place, which is more lenient than my order would have been.
U.S. Senator S. I. Hayakawa (R-Cal), an English professor who was in the Senate from 1976 to 1983, kept sponsoring bills to make English the official language, but the U.S. was going through a mini-Great Stupid in the Carter Years , and his effort never got anywhere.
“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,” Trump’s order says. The designation “promotes unity, cultivate a shared American culture for all citizens, ensures consistency in government operations, and creates a pathway to civic engagement.” Indeed, that’s how culture works.
English is already the official language in more than 30 states—I bet you can guess most of the states that are in the minority—but Trump’s executive order needs to be bolstered by the law that S. I. was never able to pass. Roughly 10% of the public speak a language other than English, more than triple the proportion in 1980 according to 2022 data from the U.S. Census. Speaking more than one language is wonderful as long as the multi-lingual citizen is fluent in English. Right now, too many are not.
The latest Executive Order is likely to be popular across the partisan divide: I had dinner last week with a couple who railed against Trump and Musk, and then railed some more about clerks, salespeople and other workers who either don’t speak coherent English or who can’t understand the language.
I have never been able to understand why this wasn’t done long ago. It seems like it was the product of political cowardice.
Roman Palomares, head of the League of United Latin American Citizens, condemned the move with historical nonsense. “Our Founding Fathers enshrined freedom of speech in the First Amendment without limiting it to one language. They envisioned a nation where diversity of thought, culture, and expression would be its greatest strength,” Palomares blathered. “Declaring English as the only official language directly contradicts that vision.America thrives when we embrace inclusivity, not when we silence the voices of millions who contribute to its success.”
The voices of millions who contribute to its success will contribute more when they demonstrate the commitment to this country displayed by learning its language. The Founders never dreamed that any language other than English would or could be the cornerstone of American culture, communication, education and commerce. That’s the Tower of Babel above. I can’t wait for the lawsuits claiming that heeding the lesson of that fable violates the First Amendment.
Ethics Alarms 
“They envisioned a nation where diversity of thought, culture, and expression would be its greatest strength….”
WOW. Just . . . WOW. Mr. Palomares needs to take a quick refresher course on what “diversity” means–according to his political allies–before he gets accused of being a far right MAGA type.
–Dwayne
How can diversity of thought be understood unless there is a common language. Those who want to limit minorities to niche languages do so only to keep them under their thumb. If their constituencies are fluent in the common language there is no need for their parochial perspective.
Multiculturalism is the best sounding thing.
But in reality it keeps people divided and in friction.
Melting pot is what America was meant to be. Guess which language has proven also to be the most conducive to melting pots?
English. With the core of the English language holding intact, it has gladly brought new words into it with a zeal other languages cannot possibly emulate.
Palomares needs to look up what an “official language” is, because declaring one has no effect whatsoever on First Amendment rights.
There is a problem I’m concerned about, though. As I understand it, Clinton’s executive order 13166 (the one Trump repealed in the process of making English the official language) wasn’t about requiring agencies to accommodate employees who don’t speak fluent English–it was about making sure that people who didn’t speak fluent English could still avail themselves of whatever public services a government agency provided.
If you think the government agencies shouldn’t be spending resources on accommodating people who live in the United States but don’t speak English, I can understand that position. Maybe communities should take responsibility themselves for making sure they can get translation help when they need it.
One way or another, though, I want to make sure that everyone is equipped to communicate well enough to access the services they need. Incentivizing U.S. residents to learn English in the long term is all well and good, but there will be an adjustment period and people who need immediate help should be able to get it in the meantime.
Here’s the text of executive order 13166, for reference: https://www.justice.gov/crt/executive-order-13166
Expecting immigrants to become English speaking Americans worked as smoothly as it could have for 200 years.
I don’t. If you accommodate Americans who can’t speak English well enough to function, then you enable them to stay non-functional. It’s like talking baby-talk to growing children. Stop printing govt, forms in other languages, stop having dual-language signs and phone messages. Blend in or stay out.
Considering that proficiency in English is supposed to be a requirement for a legal immigrant to gain citizenship, why do some states provide voting ballots in multiple languages? Perhaps Trump should also order that ballots (at least for national elections, if not all) be only in English.
There are alot of factors that go into whether or not a particular society is cohesive enough to “stick together”. But of all the factors, it turns out, common language outstrips the others by miles. Common language can be overcome by other divisive factors leading to splits or inability to unify, but very rarely. Conversely, Divided cultures could share absolutely everything in common *except* language, and the two will very unlikely unify or stay together long.
One reason why European will very likely NEVER form a unified whole without American military presence to make sure they don’t murder themselves.