Senate Votes English as 'National Language'

From the Washington Post courtesy of the Daily Kos:

After an emotional debate fraught with symbolism, the Senate yesterday voted to make English the "national language" of the United States, declaring that no one has a right to federal communications or services in a language other than English except for those already guaranteed by law.

The measure, approved 63 to 34, directs the government to "preserve and enhance" the role of English, without altering current laws that require some government documents and services be provided in other languages. Opponents, however, said it could negate executive orders, regulations, civil service guidances and other multilingual ordinances not officially sanctioned by acts of Congress.

And

But its author, Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), made two last-minute changes that some opponents said would reduce its effect significantly. By stipulating that the English-only mandates could not negate existing laws, Inhofe spared current ordinances that allow bilingual education or multilingual ballots. By changing the amendment to label English the "national language" rather than the "official language" of the country, Inhofe may have lessened its symbolic power.

And

Further complicating the picture, moments after approving the Inhofe amendment, the Senate voted 58 to 39 to approve a competing amendment by Salazar. It declared English the "common unifying language of the United States," but mandated that nothing in that declaration "shall diminish or expand any existing rights" regarding multilingual services.

Senators said the conflict will have to be worked out in negotiations with the House.

Click here for the rest.

Say what?

This is one weird bill. It doesn't declare English to be the official language; instead, it makes English the "national language." Whatever the hell that means, and, as far as what this article says is actually in the bill, there are apparently no clues there. From what I can tell, I think that "national language" means that it is now patriotically correct to praise English as being better for America than other languages, and that no new programs or laws mandating the use of other languages will be enacted in the future. I think. Frankly, it sounds like the Senate was for English-as-official-language before they were against it. That is, this bill is obviously something of a patchwork quilt, designed to throw bones to as many factions of the GOP as possible, including, of course, both the right-wing xenophobes who are scared shitless of brown people, and the right-wing capitalists who want to exploit the hell out of brown people.

We may very well be watching the disintegration of the Republican Party on this issue.

You know, I've never understood why people seem to be so threatened by Spanish. I mean, I've heard some reasonable people talk about cultural unity, but such arguments seem so abstract as to be uncompelling. I've also heard people talk about how much it costs to print ballots and whatnot in multiple languages, but, again, all budgets considered, we're only talking about a drop in the bucket, which makes this argument uncompelling, too. What we're left with, then, is irrational fear of the unknown, which is just stupid. In Texas, I've had a great deal of interaction with people who speak Spanish as a first language. It's just no big deal. Even interacting with people who don't speak English at all is no big deal. We just stumble through whatever we need to get done with some improvised Spanglish and it all works out. I just don't get why people are so terrified of what, to me, is quite a lengua bonita.

We really do live in a culture of fear.

By the way, over at Emphasis Added rascally Rob Salkowitz has some wise things to say about this issue. Check it out.

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