Washington Times Commentary Supports Official English

An opinion piece in the Washington Times supports making English the official language of the USA.

The commentary is written by Tom Basile. The headline reads: “Making English our official language is a winning issue: Learning it is crucial too succeeding, contributing and integrating.”

ProEnglish Executive Director Stephen Guschov also published an opinion piece in the Washington Times in recent years entitled “Stopping the drift toward multilingualism: Why Congress must pass the English Language Unity Act.”

Here are some excerpts from this outstanding commentary by Tom Basile:

“One of the most effective ways to protect the freedom, growth, and stability of this country is to fight government dependency. We do that by advancing policies that help give everyone living here the best opportunity possible to achieve their potential.”

“Apart from the Constitution, in the most diverse nation in the world, the English language has been the one constant uniting force that has helped make this nation the success that it is.”

“Finally making English the official language of the United States is a winning issue.”

“According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of people who spoke a language other than English at home nearly tripled from 23.1 million in 1980 to 67.8 million in 2019.”

“You cannot achieve your potential as an American in the job market, academically, or even socially, without reading, writing, and speaking English well.”

“Making English the official language is a pro-immigrant and pro-diversity policy. We should want everyone in this country to succeed, support themselves, and contribute to society.”

“While Americans’ reading and writing skills hit new lows, English is the dominant language of the sciences, commerce, media, entertainment, and diplomacy.”

“Spending taxpayer money to produce street signs and official government communications in other languages creates a crutch and reinforces the flawed notion that English proficiency is not important to national unity or individual success.”

“Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio has reintroduced a bill long championed by former Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma that has been languishing in Washington since 2005 to encourage stronger English adoption. It’s time to finally pass the English Language Unity Act.”

“The legislation would establish English as the official language, require government functions to be conducted in English, and introduce an English-language testing standard for  naturalization.”

“It’s time to make it a national policy.”