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Topic: Urge congress to make English the official language
boredinaz06 Joined Sun 10/15/06 Posts: 22764	Thu 02/02/12 06:36 PM
Grassfire Nation Update Under, It’s time the United States make English their official language. That is the sentiment of more than one hundred lawmakers who have added their names as co-sponsors to the “English Language Unity Act of 2011” (H.R. 997), introduced by Rep. Steve King (R-IA). In addition to becoming the official language of the U.S., the legislation would also “establish a uniform English language rule for naturalization.” “I don’t know what the Republican leaders have on the board that is more popular than official English,” said King to the Hill. The move to make English the official language of the United States is not something new -- or without critics. Many Democrats believe this latest effort is little more than a political effort designed to paint President Obama in a bad light since he voted against a similar measure when he was a Senator. Three years ago, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) referred to a nearly identical bill as “racist.” Under, the Leftists who are running this country and trying desperately to re-shape our nation into something our forefathers wouldn’t even recognize need to be painted in a negative light. Though our nation was indeed built on the backs of hard working immigrants who spoke dozens of different languages and dialects, they all knew the importance and necessity of learning the English language as a unifying measure, a sign of assimilation and belonging. That is missing today, and our nation suffers because of it. That’s why Grassfire Nation has launched a national petition initiative supporting Rep. King’s legislation to make English the official language of the United States. We are asking all members of our team to get on board with this effort by clicking below and signing our petition: Urge your friends to sign the petition by clicking here: http://www.grassfire.com/202/petition.asp King has bi-partisan support of the House. All he’s missing is a strong contingent of grassroots citizens mobilized to move Congress forward with this long-overdue legislation -- bringing us closer to unifying our nation by adopting English as our official language! Under, this is an issue that American citizens can win. But just signing isn’t going to be enough. We need the help of grassroots patriots to spread the word about H.R. 997 and efforts to make English our official language. Grassfire officials will be reaching out to Rep. King in the near future to make ourselves available to him and those supporting this legislation. As soon as we reach our delivery goal, we will hand-deliver all gathered petitions to key members of Congress! Be among those patriotic Americans who are diligently efforting to make English our official language by clicking below and signing our petition:

JERMANICUS Joined Sat 01/28/12 Posts: 597	Thu 02/02/12 07:12 PM Edited by JERMANICUS on Thu 02/02/12 07:13 PM
When my Grandmother's grandparents met, her grandfather being from Italy and her Grandmother being from Holland, neither one of them spoke a word of English. I have no idea how they met,but here I am. I'm in the small minority of people that think there should NEVER be an official language. This is the melting pot. It is very unpatriotic to insist on a national language. This is suppose to be the land of the free?

Seakolony Joined Fri 11/07/08 Posts: 11968	Thu 02/02/12 07:19 PM
When my Grandmother's grandparents met, her grandfather being from Italy and her Grandmother being from Holland, neither one of them spoke a word of English. I have no idea how they met,but here I am. I'm in the small minority of people that think there should NEVER be an official language. This is the melting pot. It is very unpatriotic to insist on a national language. This is suppose to be the land of the free? Understand where you are coming from, but how do we afford to print everything in every language for everyone. It starts to become quite expensive to cater to everyone in there native language. It takes workers longer, More time paid out. More brochures, etc.

InvictusV Joined Sun 11/23/08 Posts: 5282	Thu 02/02/12 07:44 PM
Government documents should be in English only. They didn't write the Declaration of Independence or Constitution in 20 languages. I am not for English being declared the official language because we don't speak the queens English. The understanding that its the common language and needs to be learned is enough for me personally.

vthepoet Joined Tue 12/21/10 Posts: 954	Thu 02/02/12 07:46 PM
English should be the national language. If you moved to France you would be expected to speak french, it is not racist rather it is an attempt to create a more stable, and basis for a working environment. By all means you should be allowed to speak your own language however it should be expected of you to speak/learn English if you do wish to live in America. It is a melting pot but to help function in a nation you need to know it's language.

Bravalady Joined Sun 01/01/12 Posts: 1034	Thu 02/02/12 08:55 PM
Vthepoet -- I agree with everything you said. English already is our national language, and people who want to fit in know they need to learn it. I don't see why we need a law. invictus -- Not sure what you're thinking of as government documents. For instructions and forms that need to be filled out by millions of people, it seems like it would be easier to translate them into Spanish, say, than just not get the form filled out. Hiring a translator for individuals, or waiting weeks for them to find someone themselves, seems a lot more labor-intensive and inefficient to me. Seakolony -- No one's talking about "every" language. One or two would be reasonable. Jermanicus -- I think your "small minority" may not be so small. I think most people don't care much about this issue. It's common sense that if you plan to live in a country, it's a great help to speak the language. Making a law about it is just a waste of time. Boredinaz -- The leftists are running this country? How did I miss that? And by the way, I thought that to a conservative, "leftists" were the people who made unnecessary, invasive laws.

metalwing Joined Fri 11/14/08 Posts: 26218	Thu 02/02/12 09:04 PM
I think making English the official language is long overdue.

boredinaz06 Joined Sun 10/15/06 Posts: 22764	Thu 02/02/12 09:09 PM
I honestly cannot believe anyone would be opposed to this. Its not the Queens English, but America kicked England's *** so why would we speak the Queens English? We speak American English, and English absolutely should be the official language. No one is saying you cant speak anything else, but all government documents and business should be English only. Private business can operate in whatever language they want.

boredinaz06 Joined Sun 10/15/06 Posts: 22764	Thu 02/02/12 09:11 PM
I signed the petition, did you?

massagetrade Joined Thu 02/22/07 Posts: 8505	Thu 02/02/12 10:02 PM
English should be the national language. If you moved to France you would be expected to speak french, it is not racist rather it is an attempt to create a more stable, and basis for a working environment. QFT. Some liberals are ready to call anything they disagree with "racist".

vthepoet Joined Tue 12/21/10 Posts: 954	Thu 02/02/12 10:08 PM
I had to look up what QFT means. =D

massagetrade Joined Thu 02/22/07 Posts: 8505	Thu 02/02/12 10:10 PM
I had to look up what QFT means. =D Naturally I was talking about quantum field theory.

vthepoet Joined Tue 12/21/10 Posts: 954	Thu 02/02/12 10:19 PM
I knew itttt

Redykeulous Joined Thu 11/09/06 Posts: 6052	Thu 02/02/12 10:31 PM
What is the importance of a law declaring ONE language as a national language? What kind of laws would grow out of such a declaration? How would they be enforced? If American/English(AE) were a national language, would schools be held accountable for producing high-school graduates with a certain level of reading, writing, and speaking skills? Would we consider text-speak a form of AE? Would rap be an acceptable form of the language - or country slang? And what about 'dialects', fad phrases and the use of colloquialisms, contractions and OMG what about acronyms from netlingo to medical, from computer to government? Heck (now that's a word, isn't it?)the DOD even has a dictionary of acronyms and abbreviations. Do you all feel confident that you could pass a government acronym test? Would the governments (fed and state) have to set up new departments to oversee and enforce all the new regulations? So, srsly whad-up wid u awl, whachu be thinkn?

msharmony Joined Mon 08/31/09 Posts: 61041	Thu 02/02/12 10:42 PM
many countries have an official language, it doesnt affect what language people are allowed to speak, it just sets a STANDARD that people are expected to understand for business and education purposes spain and venezuela and argentina have spanish as official languages Israel has hebrew as an official language I am not passionate about it happening or about keeping it from happening,,,,

massagetrade Joined Thu 02/22/07 Posts: 8505	Thu 02/02/12 10:45 PM
If American/English(AE) were a national language, would schools be held accountable for producing high-school graduates with a certain level of reading, writing, and speaking skills? Sounds great to me! Would we consider text-speak a form of AE? People can use it all they want, but NOOEEESS! noway. srsly!

massagetrade Joined Thu 02/22/07 Posts: 8505	Thu 02/02/12 10:46 PM
many countries have an official language, it doesnt affect what language people are allowed to speak, it just sets a STANDARD that people are expected to understand for business and education purposes Exactly.

Redykeulous Joined Thu 11/09/06 Posts: 6052	Thu 02/02/12 11:06 PM
many countries have an official language, it doesnt affect what language people are allowed to speak, it just sets a STANDARD that people are expected to understand for business and education purposes Exactly. If that's the case, then what's the point? Nationalism is highly overrated and there is nothing about the language(s) we use in this country that screams (THIS IS O U R LANGUAGE). The point of language is to communicate and even with my own son, I sometimes fail, I'm so not into textspeak. And now I'm trying to learn lexicalized American sign language - kinda like accronyms and some abbreviations. It's amazing, but somehow we DO all learn to communicate regardless of the language we speak.

vthepoet Joined Tue 12/21/10 Posts: 954	Thu 02/02/12 11:52 PM
Nationalism isnt over rated. :-3 Up the RA.

InvictusV Joined Sun 11/23/08 Posts: 5282	Fri 02/03/12 03:57 AM
Vthepoet -- I agree with everything you said. English already is our national language, and people who want to fit in know they need to learn it. I don't see why we need a law. invictus -- Not sure what you're thinking of as government documents. For instructions and forms that need to be filled out by millions of people, it seems like it would be easier to translate them into Spanish, say, than just not get the form filled out. Hiring a translator for individuals, or waiting weeks for them to find someone themselves, seems a lot more labor-intensive and inefficient to me. Seakolony -- No one's talking about "every" language. One or two would be reasonable. Jermanicus -- I think your "small minority" may not be so small. I think most people don't care much about this issue. It's common sense that if you plan to live in a country, it's a great help to speak the language. Making a law about it is just a waste of time. Boredinaz -- The leftists are running this country? How did I miss that? And by the way, I thought that to a conservative, "leftists" were the people who made unnecessary, invasive laws. English is the common language. Encouraging English to be learned by those living here that don't speak it is going to allow them to participate more freely and increase their chances of being successful in a society that speaks it. Not speaking it limits your employment opportunities which benefits no one.