To the students and faculty of our high school:
I am your new principal, and honored to be so. There is no greater calling than to teach young people. I would like to apprise you of some important changes coming to our school. I am making these changes because I am convinced that most of the ideas that have dominated public education in America have worked against you, against your teachers and against our country.
First, this school will no longer honor race or ethnicity. I could not care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow or white. I could not care less if your origins are African, Latin American, Asian or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower or on slave ships.
The only identity I care about, the only one this school will recognize, is your individual identity -- your character, your scholarship, your humanity. And the only national identity this school will care about is American. This is an American public school, and American public schools were created to make better Americans.
If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial or religious identity through school, you will have to go elsewhere. We will end all ethnicity-, race- and non-American nationality-based celebrations. They undermine the motto of America, one of its three central values -- e pluribus unum, "from many, one." And this school will be guided by America's values.
This includes all after-school clubs. I will not authorize clubs that divide students based on any identities. This includes race, language, religion, sexual orientation or whatever else may become in vogue in a society divided by political correctness.
Your clubs will be based on interests and passions, not blood, ethnic, racial or other physically defined ties. Those clubs just cultivate narcissism -- an unhealthy preoccupation with the self -- while the purpose of education is to get you to think beyond yourself. So we will have clubs that transport you to the wonders and glories of art, music, astronomy, languages you do not already speak, carpentry and more. If the only extracurricular activities you can imagine being interesting in are those based on ethnic, racial or sexual identity, that means that little outside of yourself really interests you.
Second, I am uninterested in whether English is your native language. My only interest in terms of language is that you leave this school speaking and writing English as fluently as possible. The English language has united America's citizens for over 200 years, and it will unite us at this school. It is one of the indispensable reasons this country of immigrants has always come to be one country. And if you leave this school without excellent English language skills, I would be remiss in my duty to ensure that you will be prepared to successfully compete in the American job market. We will learn other languages here -- it is deplorable that most Americans only speak English -- but if you want classes taught in your native language rather than in English, this is not your school.
Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavor, everything in this school will reflect learning's elevated status. This means, among other things, that you and your teachers will dress accordingly. Many people in our society dress more formally for Hollywood events than for church or school. These people have their priorities backward. Therefore, there will be a formal dress code at this school.
Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this school's property -- whether in class, in the hallways or at athletic events. If you can't speak without using the f-word, you can't speak. By obscene language I mean the words banned by the Federal Communications Commission, plus epithets such as "Nigger," even when used by one black student to address another black, or "bitch," even when addressed by a girl to a girlfriend. It is my intent that by the time you leave this school, you will be among the few your age to instinctively distinguish between the elevated and the degraded, the holy and the obscene.
Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programs. In this school, self-esteem will be attained in only one way -- the way people attained it until decided otherwise a generation ago -- by earning it. One immediate consequence is that there will be one valedictorian, not eight.
Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and away from politics and propaganda. No more time will devoted to scaring you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about sexual harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be devoted to condom wearing and teaching you to regard sexual relations as only or primarily a health issue. There will be no more attempts to convince you that you are a victim because you are not white, or not male, or not heterosexual or not Christian. We will have failed if any one of you graduates this school and does not consider him or herself inordinately lucky -- to be alive and to be an American.
Now, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of our country. As many of you do not know the words, your teachers will hand them out to you.
Amen, Mr. Prager! Now do you suppose we citizens that still believe in America and its exceptionalism could convince a few principals across the country to deliver such a speech despite the outrage that would inevitably come from the NEA and those few parents that have taught their children to game the system and act as perpetual victims?
First, this school will no longer honor race or ethnicity. I could not care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow or white. I could not care less if your origins are African, Latin American, Asian or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower or on slave ships.
The only identity I care about, the only one this school will recognize, is your individual identity -- your character, your scholarship, your humanity. And the only national identity this school will care about is American. This is an American public school, and American public schools were created to make better Americans.
If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial or religious identity through school, you will have to go elsewhere. We will end all ethnicity-, race- and non-American nationality-based celebrations. They undermine the motto of America, one of its three central values -- e pluribus unum, "from many, one." And this school will be guided by America's values.
This includes all after-school clubs. I will not authorize clubs that divide students based on any identities. This includes race, language, religion, sexual orientation or whatever else may become in vogue in a society divided by political correctness.
Your clubs will be based on interests and passions, not blood, ethnic, racial or other physically defined ties. Those clubs just cultivate narcissism -- an unhealthy preoccupation with the self -- while the purpose of education is to get you to think beyond yourself. So we will have clubs that transport you to the wonders and glories of art, music, astronomy, languages you do not already speak, carpentry and more. If the only extracurricular activities you can imagine being interesting in are those based on ethnic, racial or sexual identity, that means that little outside of yourself really interests you.
Second, I am uninterested in whether English is your native language. My only interest in terms of language is that you leave this school speaking and writing English as fluently as possible. The English language has united America's citizens for over 200 years, and it will unite us at this school. It is one of the indispensable reasons this country of immigrants has always come to be one country. And if you leave this school without excellent English language skills, I would be remiss in my duty to ensure that you will be prepared to successfully compete in the American job market. We will learn other languages here -- it is deplorable that most Americans only speak English -- but if you want classes taught in your native language rather than in English, this is not your school.
Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavor, everything in this school will reflect learning's elevated status. This means, among other things, that you and your teachers will dress accordingly. Many people in our society dress more formally for Hollywood events than for church or school. These people have their priorities backward. Therefore, there will be a formal dress code at this school.
Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this school's property -- whether in class, in the hallways or at athletic events. If you can't speak without using the f-word, you can't speak. By obscene language I mean the words banned by the Federal Communications Commission, plus epithets such as "Nigger," even when used by one black student to address another black, or "bitch," even when addressed by a girl to a girlfriend. It is my intent that by the time you leave this school, you will be among the few your age to instinctively distinguish between the elevated and the degraded, the holy and the obscene.
Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programs. In this school, self-esteem will be attained in only one way -- the way people attained it until decided otherwise a generation ago -- by earning it. One immediate consequence is that there will be one valedictorian, not eight.
Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and away from politics and propaganda. No more time will devoted to scaring you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about sexual harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be devoted to condom wearing and teaching you to regard sexual relations as only or primarily a health issue. There will be no more attempts to convince you that you are a victim because you are not white, or not male, or not heterosexual or not Christian. We will have failed if any one of you graduates this school and does not consider him or herself inordinately lucky -- to be alive and to be an American.
Now, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of our country. As many of you do not know the words, your teachers will hand them out to you.
Amen, Mr. Prager! Now do you suppose we citizens that still believe in America and its exceptionalism could convince a few principals across the country to deliver such a speech despite the outrage that would inevitably come from the NEA and those few parents that have taught their children to game the system and act as perpetual victims?
30 comments:
I real speech would read-
Hi, I'm here to close your public school because this system has failed, and was never really all that great anyway. Here's your voucher check. If you learn well in a school where you can wear earings in your face with blue hair, fine. If you want to go to a military school, fine. We don't care. Have a nice day
Also, we're on track to have more Spanish speakers in America in the next 40 years, why not teach American's Spanish instead to 'unite them' since likely that will be the language most Americans speak by the time I retire.
Mr. Paine, some of the statements only hinted at concepts, without clarifying them directly. If we are going to use this speech in our schools, and I think we should, we ought to be explicit in our intentions. I will make corrections now:
“Additionally, my future students, many of you who cannot understand English, are therefore not welcome. I refuse to speak in your native tongue and you have no method of learning mine at this institution unless you can study English in English. Therefore, I say to you children: "Adios, you are not Americans in the first place or you would speak American."
“Now, those of you who survived my last edict know this: condoms will not come up. You will not even know what they are until one of your many babies gets old enough to take the cigarette out of his mouth and explain it.”
“As for sex, it has long been treated as a medical issue in the classroom. No more! My God happens to not like sex. He so despised it, that He even refused to do it when He needed to procreate. Instead, He used Immaculate Conception. Immaculate: clean, pure and unsullied by pleasure. Sex means fuck, children, and that is very bad. I will mention sex no further, as it is inappropriate to discuss with children and I only made this exception because it was necessary in order to tell you that it would not be discussed in my Godly school.”
“We are not going to convince you that you are victim. This has much meaning, so I will address each point independently:”
“One: you are not a victim because you are not white. That would be nearly impossible. We will do everything we can to ensure that most of you are white. So far, we have the aforementioned strategy to remove many of the Hispanics, which are the main source of the color problem as I see it. We will not rest until we figure out a way to cure all color-based victimhood.”
“Two: we will not teach you that you are a victim because you are not male. We will teach you that you earn the same wages and receive the same respect as your male counter-parts. This is an institution of learning and we are not here to promote equality. My God said nothing about that and if you read the Bible, you will find He did not believe in it. At this university, all women, without prejudice, will be shown the same respect they received in the Bible.”
“Three: we will not teach you that you are a victim because you are a homosexual. Homosexuality is a crime against God, and disgusting for other reasons we don’t discuss. You are certainly not the victim here. Per my God, and now yours, you are the perpetrator.”
“We will not teach you that you are a victim because you are not a Christian. Again, you are the culprit in this case. You have free will. This institution embraces Christianity and we are not going to allow you to cast our love of the Christian God as a manifestation of hatred of you or any pagan demon you happen to worship.”
“We have failed you if any one of you graduates this school and does not consider himself, or herself, inordinately lucky to be alive.”
“Now please join me in my pledge of allegiance to an idol representing the United States of America, where you will be required to admit under duress that your nation is run by my God. I am sure some of your may not have been forced to worship my god or my flag before, so I will give you a script that says specifically how I want it done.”
Amen, Mr. Prager and Your God bless you, sir. We who still believe in America will try to convince principals in each of its corners to deliver your message. Those who do not believe, the ones who think the North American Continent is a myth, in the tradition of Atlantis and Global Warming, will try to figure out where we are. If it turns out we are Europe for example, then we will try to persuade the Europeans to indoctrinate children with your ideology.
[Continued ... ]
Mr. Prager, you made me realize that victims are gaming our system when they resist our “Christian persecution.” With you at the podium, we will teach them early: no need to play this game, resistance is futile.
[THE END]
Bravo to Prager. T. Paine, in answer to your question, I don't think any school principals would have the guts to give such a speech. Too bad.
John, I don't understand your comments. If you're not aware, Prager isn't a Christian, so he's not a big supporter of "Christian persecution." But I probably just missed the point, as usual.
Free, I understand your sentiments completely. I, however, am a product of public education and I found it to be quite excellent at that time. (At least in my small suburban town.)
I am 45 now though and we didn't have to have police officers as part of the faculty or metal detectors at the door, so perhaps in the end, you are correct.
As for all of those folks speaking Spanish, there is absolutely nothing wrong with knowing that language. It is a damned shame though if they don't try to integrate into our AMERICAN culture by learning English.
John, I know you got my back with your defense of me, hence the reason I didn't wear my Kevlar today.
That being said, Mr. Prager's intentions seemed exceptionally clear and not really in need of further explanation to my limited mind.
For example, he stated that he would be remiss in his duties if students weren't fluent in English by the time of graduation, but it was also shameful that most Americans only spoke English.
I absolutely agree with his take on identity politics. I have long complained about the waste of folks making a point of their being some hyphenated American class. I, likewise, don't care if a person is a Hispanic-American, Female-American, or Hindu-American. We are ALL AMERICANS.
e pluribus unum. It used to have far more meaning as folks came to America and made an attempt to integrate into this great melting pot. They didn't have to give up their heritage to do so, but rather add it to the beauty that is the American populace while embracing the values that make up the quintessential American.
Heathen Republican did a very good post on those values a short while back. Those are the things of which I speak.
When we divide ourselves into sub-groups of Americans, then it becomes far easier to pay attention to what makes us different instead of what makes us the same. The next inevitable step is to see persecution of one's group and to thus put on the mantle of the victim.
That is not to say that persecution and bias don't exist, but there would be a damned sight less of it if all Americans were to step up and denounce it whenever it occured, regardless of the color, creed, gender, orientation etc of the person being abused. That is what Americans should do, in my opinion.
H.R.- John's use of satire, while often very effective and always clever, sometimes makes one have to really read between the lines with him to get at his true point, huh?
My point Paine, is that American culture is shifting and in 40 years there will be more spanish speakers than English speakers. So if schools aren't going to social engineer and simply want to provide skills students are going to need, I'd say we should STOP USING ENGLISH AS A FIRST LANGUAGE and immidiately teach Spanish in total emersion to prepair students for the future, because that future is speaking Spanish.
But instead we'll force English in an attempt at social engineering.
Wow, Free, I can't disagree more. What's wrong with social engineering? Every society has done it for millenia... so why shouldn't we?
We indoctrinate our kids with the ideas of capitalism, patriotism, moral values, dating... oh wait, those are all areas that the Left is trying to undermine. Now I understand your objection.
Just because the demographics tell us that Spanish will be the dominant language in X years, doesn't mean we have to stand by and let it happen. Those demographics are a result of our doing nothing, and T. Paine (via Dennis Prager) is advocating we do something.
I'll get on board with social engineering if it means we choose to be an English speaking nation, and that means integrating non-English speakers fully.
I have no problem with Spanish or any other language being the dominant language so long as it happens without manipulation from government. I believe in compitition, and if Spanish beats English than so be it. Do I think that will happen? YES, because Mexicans and latin americans have way more children than english whites. If we closed the boarder tomorrow, and let no one else in it wouldn't matter because there are enough legal Latin citizens to change the language. Further, English doesn't unify squat, looks to me instead it's dividing us.
That is the stark reality, and because that is THE REALITY, I and my family learn spanish to prepare for that day, not try and legislate away the inevitable. The only thing you can do to save the English language's place of dominance in America is to get white people to have way, way more kids.
And intigration is a two way street. Both groups (Not just whites either) are going to change, and so long as we let the free market and COMPITITION do the changing instead of the central planing of government engineering we'll be better off for it.
Free, I understand your point, but this is one topic where you and I part ways temporarily.
H.R. is absolutely correct. Our nation was not founded as a Hispanic nation with a Spanish language. Now I don't have a problem with citizens LEGALLY immigrating here and learning what it is to be American, which includes speaking the English language.
Otherwise if we turn our heads and ignore this growing phenomenon, we will simply succumb and become the northern most state of the country of Mexico, complete with their governmental corruption and poor standards of living.
It is not incumbent upon Americans to adapt to the cultures of new immigrants, regardless of where they originally hail from. It is incumbent upon them to embrace their new country for which they presumably wish to become legal citizens thereof.
H.R. is absolutely correct. Our nation was not founded as a Hispanic nation with a Spanish language
California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, Louisiana, Florida. All founded speaking spanish as a first language. All joined the union with Spanish (Okay, LO had switched to french along with Michigan, parts of New York, Maine, Missippi, and Wisconsin) Origional 13 colonies? No official language by law. You're dead wrong. More over, who cares? There is in fact a document that say's what it means to be an American, it's called the Constitution. No where in it does it talk for even one second about language. Language has nothing to do what so ever with "being an American" what ever that is. Americans take the best of other cultures and adopt it, and you know what decides that? Compitition. You English first-ers are just sore loosers.
Otherwise if we turn our heads and ignore this growing phenomenon, we will simply succumb and become the northern most state of the country of Mexico,
Really? Because California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, Louisiana, Florida are proving you very wrong, every second of their existance.
It is not incumbent upon Americans to adapt to the cultures of new immigrants
Yes it is, that's why it's a MELTING POT. Both sides melt. Bottom line is anglos are going to be the minority in 50 years. Suck it up.
Free, while you make a good point regarding some of our southwestern states and Florida being Spanish in the beginning as that is who originally colonized them, they did eventually become American territories and then states. No nation has ever successfully survived for very long with distinct and separate cultures and languages. Look at the chaos and the referendums that the French Quebec citizens of Canada have had in trying to separate from the rest of Canada. Further Alberta and British Columbia have little use for the French speaking districts of the country and vice versa.
If America does become a majority Spanish speaking nation as you assert, I guarantee you that those cultures coming into our nation will not have the same reverence, historical knowledge, or love for our founding and our constitution. Look at La Raza and all of the militant Hispanic groups that already claim that large swaths of America is their land that was usurped from them and must be given back with reparations. This nonsense of having two languages and disparate cultures instead of one American culture with an English language at its core will surely break apart this nation more fully than our civil war ever did, Free. Sorry buddy, but I vehemently disagree with you on this one.
Mr. Paine,
While you and Heathen as both made some good points, as you both often do, I feel that Free is coming out on top of this intensely interesting debate.
As your friend and steadfast ally, I am prepared to stand with you in battle. I just re-read all of your arguments and I find them indeed worth of defending.
Stay tuned.
Mr. Paine,
I have tried to stay out of this, but Free will not let it go and he is doing such a good job that I feel obligated to jump to your defense.
Free, if you are listening, you are wrong, and not just wrong, but dead wrong; which is substantially more wrong than the other kind, even though you would expect that wrong to be the weakest of all, as most things, once deceased, become ineffectual. Free, you are even wrong about that. It doesn’t work that way. Dead wrong is the wrongest of all.
Mr. Paine, Hopefully in 50 years, the races in this melting pot will be so mixed, that a pure Aryan will not exist anymore and prejudice against Pablo will be the same thing as prejudice against Herman. Maybe the problem will solve itself. Herman and Pablo will effortless speak both English and Spanish. We will all be better for it. Brass is better than copper or zinc. Bronze is better than copper or tin. Alloys are just better.
In the meantime, we run the risk of becoming like them backward multi-lingual Europeans. You can find English speakers just about everywhere in Europe, and yet they speak other languages also. What keeps Europe so messed up is them other languages! It is as plain as the white nose on my pale face. The effect of these other tongues on European nations helps explain why they don’t have the same values as our founding fathers, which as you will learn shortly, is very bad.
Here is what I have come to think: “This nonsense of having two languages and disparate cultures instead of one American culture with an English language at its core will surely break apart this nation more fully than our civil war ever did.”
As I understand things, English is the key to American values.
I hope no one mistakes this dogma as a consequence of prejudice. It is nothing of the kind. It is yet another example of embracing the good ole days, back when grandpa did not molest Suzie and gum was still a nickel. I often sense this attitude: my father was a Christian and many of the founding fathers were Christians, so your father should be a Christian. I believe, my brethren! My father spoke English. Your father spoke English, so Pablo should speak English. How ever the nation once was, it should be. We speak English and so did the framers of the Constitution. The Constitutional Convention was conducted in English and Pablo was probably thrown out, which is why you never hear about his presence there. We know they would have put the English rule in the Constitution if they had not run out of parchment.
I realize there are unfortunate exceptions to our doctrine of never deviating from the ways of the founders: we had to fire our slaves; we were forced to give women the vote; we now even allow women to own property, for God’s sake! Our buses are all mixed up. We cannot even find the black seats anymore. And now, this last straw, some schools are recognizing the fact that we are going to have to allow Pablo and Juan to speak Spanish, even in our country. They have a country crawling with Spanish critters who, like them, have little interest in English. I see no reason they should not go home and speak their abominable tongue there.
My point is that maybe we cannot fix this problem. We have lost much of the wisdom of the founders, those whom we have chosen to think in our stead. Unfortunately, much of their philosophy has been abolished. Suffrage, civil rights, property, bus seats and now English: none of these horrific developments were foreseen by our tobacco-chewing, whiskey-guzzling, slave-owning, fore-fathers, even though they were really smart. The Constitution gives us no guidance. How do we combat evolving forces that continue to tear down the America envisioned by a group of men, whom we never elected or knew, and whom we now worship as idols when God isn’t looking?
I don’t have a solution, but in mind and spirit I stand with you against the problem.
Mr. Paine,
If I were to mischaracterize Heathen’s intentions the way I just did yours he would have a conniption fit. I hope I can expect a jolly concession from you instead.
Mr. Heathen,
...a respectful conniption fit, that is.
Man, I guess I'll never live that down. Wait a minute, how are you able to make me feel bad that you mischaracterized one of my arguments? Very clever, John.
Satire or even mockery in good faith or good humor is okay with me. And I'm getting to know you a little better. Mischaracterization in bad faith will certainly bring the knives out.
Mr. Heathen, you can't get anything right. I mischaracterized two of your arguments with a cumulative effect.
Now that I think about it, I should have not used any reference to this site and just posted that last comment as an article on my blog. I would be really curious to see how many people took me seriously. The ones who did would have viciously attacked me. I cannot see why, though. I am just expressing the conservative view.
Damn, I wish I had done that. I would bet you all would have taken me seriously!
I am, of course, serious as I can be about this.
I've been to countries that have like 6 official languages and they do just fine.
Have you ever noticed per chance, that English, Scottish, Irish while they speak "English" don't make any damn sense? That my friend is called dialect.
What you're going to see over the next 100 years is Spanish speakers and English speakers having to share a country. In all likelyhood, Spanish speakers will learn more English and English speakers will learn some spanish and whatever the result is... we'll sound EVEN MORE different from our friends across the Atlantic than we already do.
And then the European kids will copy it and their parents will cry some more about the death of their culture to Americanization.
John M.
Still care to say Libertarians and Conservatives are all alike?
Free,
The great Ralph Waldo Emerson said: "If I know your sect, I anticipate your argument."
Surely you are not suggesting that with a little more data at my disposal I can use this formula to know your position in advance, are you?
I will amend my statement, however, in the interest of good will. Libertarians are multi-lingual republicans.
First, I am still laughing at your new definition of a Libertarian, Mr. Myste. :)
If you will notice, I never said that Americans should not be multi-lingual. Indeed, I think it would be a very good idea for Americans to learn other languages, especially Spanish.
That being said, a nation and it's very culture are absolutely defined in large part by its language.
Free, I understand the difference with dialects as we have that here in the states with the southern accent, the mid-western drawl, the northeast or Boston accent etc. They are all still recognizable as English.
By allowing a nation's under-girding culture that has been in existence for hundreds of years to change by making IT adapt to a new immigrant group without requiring any of those same expectations of said immigrants will inexorably change the culture of the nation.
Free, what you propose with your notion of competition in this case is the same as changing the very essence of a country.
For example, if a huge and sustained influx of French immigrants were to become Italian citizens and refused to assimilate into Italian culture because they were all arrogant and obnoxious French men (yes I am being redundant here) and thought their language was far superior, you shortly would have French being the defacto official language in Rome.
Perhaps this doesn't seem like a big deal to some people, but the dynamics of such a change would cause Rome to cease to be truly Italian. Hopefully my example makes sense here.
We have already seen our American culture change over the generations, and not necessarily always for the better. Yes, attitudes regarding civil rights and equality were excellent and much-needed changes, but a growing class of "victims" and those that are no longer rugged individualists that would rather game the welfare system seems to have become far more prevalant with the degradation of our American culture.
Adding a huge influx of Spanish speaking folks that refuse to learn English and melt into American society will surely only weaken rather than strenghten our existing American culture.
I fully welcome, as I suspect most Americans would, any immigrant that comes here legally, respects their heritage, and yet still embraces what it is to become an American. A huge part of how one accomplishes this is by learning the language of one's new country.
By allowing a nation's under-girding culture that has been in existence for hundreds of years to change by making IT adapt to a new immigrant group without requiring any of those same expectations of said immigrants will inexorably change the culture of the nation.
I'm not suggesting we make it do anything, which is exaclty my point. I say let it play out how it may. When it comes to our government, it needn't do anything at all.
Free, what you propose with your notion of competition in this case is the same as changing the very essence of a country.
English isn't the essence of our country, capitalism is. Capitalism works just fine in Spanish. Capitalism will force two groups to work with each other out of mutual self interest. What that will look like I have no idea, nor do I have any will to influence it- just roll with it.
Hopefully my example makes sense here.
Nope, not getting it.
a huge influx of Spanish speaking folks that refuse to learn English and melt into American society
Economic incentives will cause both sides to learn about each other and work together. It will just happen, no intervention required. If it ends up in Spansih, English, or a combination of the two so what?
They are all still recognizable as English.
I can see you've never tried to hold a conversation with a Scot while he's watching "football"
will inexorably change the culture of the nation.
That's my biggest beef with Conservatives. The culture is always changing, you can no more keep it constant as the climate.
Free, I largely agree with you in regards to the government getting out of the way of things; however, when it comes to securing the borders and enforcing immigration laws, it has fallen woefully short of its duties and obligations.
The negative changes to American culture would never have been so great if we would have enthusiastically enforced our immigration laws for the past forty years.
Next, you rightfully claim that capitalism is a key component of our American culture. What happens then when a gargantuan influx of immigrants come to America and want more socialism and wealth redistribution?
It is the same as with language, my friend.
As for your Scotsman watching football, I think that would be more amusing than the game. ;)
And you are correct about the culture constantly changing. As I said, sometimes those changes are positive and enhance our American heritage and culture. What I don't want are the elements that will degrade it and not have an appreciation for all of the freedoms and the foundations of our culture that created the greatest nation in the history of mankind.
when it comes to securing the borders and enforcing immigration laws, it has fallen woefully short of its duties and obligations.
Perhaps, but what does this have to do with the English language?
What happens then when a gargantuan influx of immigrants come to America and want more socialism and wealth redistribution?
You defeat their politicians in elections to stop them. What does this have to do with English again? Were those immigrants English speakers would it somehow change things in this situation?
What I don't want are the elements that will degrade it and not have an appreciation for all of the freedoms and the foundations of our culture
No one culture created the America we know today, it took hundreds of them to do that. As for the country being degraded, compitition has a way of weeding out the weak... so long as you let it. By injecting the government into the mix- like declairing an official language or even enforcing one in a school your unintended consequences add up quick to create more problems than you solve... assuming there was a problem to solve in the first place. I say rely on Adam Smith's invisible hand. It rarely fails. People have a funny way of mostly doing what's in their own self interest... assuming Islam isn't involved!
Free, you are second person to mention Adam’s invisible hand in two days. Methinks the hand is now visible.
Free, so what happens when you get a huge influx of Muslim immigrants that speak Arabic, Farsi, etc. and claim discrimination for making them speak English?
That adds your Islamic component to the mix, and as I am sure you are well aware, many Islamic citizens have taken over huge swaths of Michigan.
What happens when they become the majority of a state or the nation and want Arabic to be the national or state language? Do you think that would be destructive to the American culture?
Further, it should NOT be the government's job to have to provide interpreters and print government documentation in multiple languages simply because a minority of citizens have not learned and don't intend to learn the common tongue. How many millions or even billions of dollars are wasted because of this?
Not to mention that court procedings, traffic signs, etc are and rightfully should be conducted in English. It creates all sorts of additional issues and burdens on the public at large when multiple languages are given equal bearing under the law accordingly.
so what happens when you get a huge influx of Muslim immigrants that speak Arabic, Farsi, etc. and claim discrimination for making them speak English?
If they want to teach in Arabic in their school I could care less. If their local school board wants to teach in Arabic I could care less. I'm pretty sure teaching in Arabic doesn't violate the 1st ammendment (like teaching Islam as a religion would in a public school) any more than teaching in Spanish does.
What happens when they become the majority of a state or the nation and want Arabic to be the national or state language?
I think I made it clear by now I don't want there to be ANY official language, arabic, english or spanish.
Not to mention that court procedings, traffic signs, etc are and rightfully should be conducted in English.
Never mind that violates people's constitutional rights to participate in their trial... Seems we love the Constitution... till it gets in the way of English first that is...
Further, it should NOT be the government's job to have to provide interpreters and print government documentation in multiple languages simply because a minority of citizens have not learned and don't intend to learn the common tongue. How many millions or even billions of dollars are wasted because of this?
But shockingly enough IT IS the government's job in certain circumstances. If that costs money, that's why we have taxes... and FEES the user pays.
But we're talking about schools here, and I think it should be up to the local school board (and not washington DC) to decide what language is used in school. It's up to State government's to decide how they print what ever it is they print, and as far as the federal government taking it's peice of the pie- then address that as needed. There are not federal schools, except for the service acadamies. I think they should teach in what ever language is most expedient. Given where we've been fighting wars lately, it would help to teach primarily in ARABIC for total emersion learning.
It is one thing for a school to not treat students differently based on their race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation (the first being a part of the constitution)... it is quiet another to ask a student to ignore these facts about their own existence and forbid them from acknowledging or discussing them. It is first unconstitutional (freedom of speech) and second it is simply mentally confusing. Even during segregation the state acknowledged the races of the students... its had to imagine that we would want to step backwards from even that to some sort of confused self denial.
It is therefor impossible to have clubs of 'interests and passions' that do not include the fundamental elements of humanity. This would rule out poetry, creative writing, art, music, or any other activity that requires the expression of ones soul.
Not 'terrifying' students about the effects of stds, smoking, or global warming is in fact not to teach the at all. (We might as well give them a fat check and say good luck... this seems to be the new standard solution for all things in conservative politics) These are real problems with real consequences. I see no reason to deny reality simply because in the past your political persuasion failed to realize their impact.
I actually agree with 2, 3, 4 (which are actually things that most school are already attempting to enforce but thanks for trying to grab credit for those things)
I have no idea what 5 means. No self-esteem programs? Are we not going to have honor roles any more? What good does this do again? I have no clue.
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