Language is everything. When this country started permitting -- strike "permitting." When this country started encouraging -- strike "encouraging." When this country started mandating bi-lingual teaching in our public schools, the die was cast. When people are unable to communicate with one another in a common language, you will have the polarization we see today. If Romney wins, I hope one of his first executive orders states that this is an English Only Country.
"Providence has been pleased to give this one connected country to one united people -- a people descended from the same ancestors, speaking the same language, professing the same religion, attached to the same principles of government, very similar in their manners and customs, and who, by their joint counsels, arms, and efforts, fighting side by side throughout a long and bloody war, have nobly established general liberty and independence."
So wrote John Jay in Federalist No. 2, wherein he describes Americans as a "band of brethren united to each other by the strongest ties."
That "band of...
Some countries handle multilingualism very well: Switzerland (4 languages) being probably the best example.
The problem with bilingual teaching in the US is that it serves as a crutch for kids to fall back on. Anyone who has studied languages knows that there is no substitute for "immersion"; that is, being FORCED to do everything in one's daily life, using the new language.
The far better approach would be a six-month immersion program in English for native Spanish speakers.
That's essentially the way it was done in this country until Ellis Island closed in the 1950s. One of the first things "legal" immigrants did after arriving was sign up for English classes -- not because they were forced to do it, but because they wanted to do it.... they wanted to become Americans. The Asians and other immigrants of today pretty much do the same thing, EXCEPT FOR THE HISPANICS. I don't understand the special exception for them. I guess someone much wiser than I decided it was the right thing to do.