English first? Jim Boulet thinks so. Commenting on the recent debate between two Dems running for Texas governor (originally planned as an all Spanish-speaking debate, but altered by one of the candidates to include English translations of his answers), Boulet notes (rather wryly):
This Spanish-only debate […] set a poor precedent. Inevitably, there will one day be ‘advocates for the Vietnamese community’ in Houston, themselves fluent English speakers, demanding a candidates’ debate conducted entirely in Vietnamese.
And given the problems we already have holding politicians accountable for campaign promises made in English, opening the door to yet another excuse — ‘the translator made a mistake’ — seems hardly likely to improve matters.
I’m not a proponent of a “National language,” necessarily — but I do recognize the potential for a slippery slope when I see one. The first time an election is challenged on the grounds that a local minority group was unable to comprehend the substance of a political debate, we’ll likely (hopefully?) witness the end to all this foolishness.
I agree that the all-Spanish debate sets an unfortunate precedent, but Mr. Boulet should not impugn the Vietnamese, who like other Asian immigrants have made it a priority to work their butts off, learn English and send their children to college. Compare their rate of success with immigrants from Mexico, P.R., D.R., etc., who are being held back because of the language barrier, which is only reinforced when grandstanding politicians conduct debates in Spanish. (Never mind that this discriminates against non-Spanish speakers.) Also, Hispanics are the fastest growing group in the US, they have passed African-Americans in population and it’s this growing population that our culture will have to adjust to, not that of assimilated Vietnamese, Koreans, Chinese, Filipinos, etc. But the funny thing is that libs who think Spanish should be our second language conveniently forget that Spanish is a dreaded European (read: white) language that supplanted the native tongues of the non-white indigenous people whose cause they claim to support. So why not object to Spanish, which was forced upon those people, and support English, which has become a language of choice for the millions who have come here in search of a better life?