State Sovereignty or Secession

[Varmit]

Diane, could you show me the Consititution that was written in french, spanish, dutch, or german?  Or how about the Declaration of Independence?  No....I didn't think so.  The point being that Yes, there are people from various parts of the world that live here.  However, we are united in the idea that we are all Americans, we do not set apart any one culture.  If teachers are to speak spanish to make it easier on students then those same teachers should be required to speak every language of every nationality of every student they have.

Pam, please, there is no such thing as absolute freedom.  We have to have rules in order to exist in a civilized society.  But when a majority of people within a country want a law to be put in place then it should be.  But let me play devils advocate for a minute, lets say that for whatever reason our gov't decides to start writing our laws in chinese, we can't really say anything because we don't have an "offical" language. I know that is extreme example.

[jerry wagner]

The last part of your statement is kind of naive.  Should the government choose to write laws in Chinese, I'm sure they would have already overridden any English-only requirement before hand.  That is not a relevant reason to suggest a national language.  Also, at this point if a national language is entertained, it should take into account the fact that a large portion of the population speaks Spanish.  English may have been the primary language of the 13 colonies but it was not necessarily the primary language of the territories that were purchased or annexed.

[Varmit]

You completely missed the point of my post.  I understand that a large portion of our population speaks spanish, but not the majority. A large portion of our country is also not christian, perhaps we should adopt Sharia law? 

[jerry wagner]

I saw your point, just thought it displayed faulty logic.  And the christian remark is irrelevant, we are not discussing religion in this thread and if we were I would say that neither Christian legal nor Sharia law should be adopted.  Also, the point of my statement regarding who spoke Spanish and the roots of other languages in this country is that you should not choose to change something that has NEVER existed formally, a national language.

[Wilma]

Jerry, just out of curiosity, can you tell us what the languages of the various annexations or purchases was?  It really sounds interesting to me and I will admit that it had never occurred to me.  For instance, what was the language of Kansas when the territory was purchased?  The Louisiana Purchase, I think.   Could you do this real soon?  Just for me if for no other reason.

[Diane Amberg]

Billy, ya missed my point. "OUR Heritage" here could have been much different if the Dutch and Swedes had kept their hands on their Delaware colonies.  The English were only part of the colonists here. New Sweden had a council form of government, I'm not positive, but I think the Dutch did too. I'm certainly in favor of how things turned out finally, but it could have turned out differently. English was just one of a number of languages in the early days.(1630s)  I don't think the Dutch and Swedes tossed out their national tongue overnight.  Frankly, even English has changed dramatically over the years. Did you ever read any Shakespeare? Also look at the number of Spanish and French words we use as part of English. If English ever became our national language, would we toss them out? Really, I was just teasing and I still am....but...
   Wilma,  Good question. I think I would guess German was widely spoken, and some French too, but not necessarily as the primary language. I'll bet Jerry will find out.

[Varmit]

  Also, the point of my statement regarding who spoke Spanish and the roots of other languages in this country is that you should not choose to change something that has NEVER existed formally, a national language.

If we never sought to change something that NEVER existed, we wouldn't be Americans, we would still be a bunch of British colonies.

Billy, ya missed my point. "OUR Heritage" here could have been much different if the Dutch and Swedes had kept their hands on their Delaware colonies.  

I am not talking about what could've been, I am talking about what is. 
Let me ask ya'll a question.  Should it be up to the employer to find a way to communicate with the employees or the other way around?  When I worked at Rubbermaid in winfield a very large portion of the workforce was Laotian.  Almost all of them professed not to speak english.  I was working on a particular line one night, one that I hadn't worked on before, I was the only white person on that line. I asked one of my co-workers a question, he replied by saying, "no, no, no speak english".  This must mean something different in laotian because the rest of them started laughing.  This pissed me off.  So I said to him, "well, if you don't speak english then you won't get mad if I call you a cocks@#$r?"  all of a sudden he spoke english.  When I was working at Skyline I saw a mexican come in to an interview with his son, whom he brought to translate, he got upset when he was told that if he couldn't speak, read, or write english then they couldn't hire him.  When this got around the plant alot of folks got upset saying that he wasn't hired simply because he was mexican. 

And yes, I have read Shakespeare.  One of my favorite quotes..."this above all, to thine own self be true."

[greatguns]

As my German friend at work said when she interviewed for her job, I thought you were looking for someone to use their hands not to talk.  She got the job and made one good employee for 40 years.

[Varmit]

Okay, and if talking becomes a necessary part of that job, what then??

[srkruzich]

The last part of your statement is kind of naive.  Should the government choose to write laws in Chinese, I'm sure they would have already overridden any English-only requirement before hand.  That is not a relevant reason to suggest a national language.  Also, at this point if a national language is entertained, it should take into account the fact that a large portion of the population speaks Spanish.  English may have been the primary language of the 13 colonies but it was not necessarily the primary language of the territories that were purchased or annexed.

Your ignoring the fact in order to become a American Citizen,  you have to speak and read ENGLISH! 
That is a requirement.