Strengthening Constitutional Self-Government

No Left Turns

Americans and some would-be tribes

The Spanish language version of the national anthem is in the news, and it is adding an interesting mix to the illegal immigration debate, almost none of it in the interest of the elites who seem to be demanding that America become more Balkan-like. President Bush has entered the debate:

"Asked at a news briefing in the Rose Garden on Friday whether he believed the anthem would have the same value in Spanish as it did in English, Mr. Bush said flatly, ’No, I don’t.’

’And I think people who want to be a citizen of this country ought to learn English,’ Mr. Bush said. ’And they ought to learn to sing the national anthem in English.’"

The New York Times story is worth reading. There are a number of revealing moments in the piece. The author finds it "striking" that Bush has entered the debate in this way, after all, he does speak Spanish, and is the first president to give his weekly radio address in Spanish. So, I presume this means he should be more "understanding"? And note this: "But his statement about the anthem was taken by members of both parties as a clear signal to conservatives that he stood with them on what many of them see as a clash between national identity and multiculturalism." Is the man "throwing a bone to the right"? Or, is he speaking his mind? I have talked with a dozen people on this question today, and not one of them thought that Bush was wrong, and all of them thought that the Spanish anthem (changed words and all) was silly at best, and stupid at worst. The putative strike on Monday may be a revealing moment, and not to the advantage of the multiculturalist drum-beaters.

By the way, the Liberal Princeton (sorry, I’m being redundant) historian Sean Wilentz, periphrastically contemplates why Bush may be our worst president. Not the best thing Wilentz has written. Until recently, such historians were proudly asserting that Reagan was the worst president ever. But the last few years they have stopped saying that, haven’t they. The truth is Carter is our Buchanan, not Bush or Reagan.

Discussions - 15 Comments

Bush is (finally) right. I love the multiculturalism of the United States, but I certainly don’t think that a Spanish national anthem is anything but ridiculous. English is the official language of the United States. Learn it if you want to be able to correctly function as a citizen . . . I would expect no less if I moved to France or Spain or Mexico or Brazil . . .

I agree it’s sort of silly.


However, if at some point spanish were to become a 2nd official language, what then?


Is that even remotely likely?

Isn’t Spanish already the second language? I fear some day it will be the first one and English will be the second.

Isn’t Spanish already the second language? I fear some day it will be the first one and English will be the second.


If a language is offically recognised, it would be mandatory to have all documents, government correspondence etc. in that language. I don’t think this is the case with Spanish in the US.


I’m intruiged by the formulation you use in your comment :


I fear some day it will be the first one and English will be the second.


Why fear? It almost seems to the default state for Americans these days.

Bush would be much more convincing champion of the English language if he stopped murdering it daily.

Excellent point, Fung. Bush should get a solid handle on the language himself before he starts in on the Official English rant (BTW, Matt, I don’t think that the U.S. government has yet called English our official language - although it wouldn’t surprise me if it happened soon). Lisa, don’t be scared, espanol es muy facil.

Except for the pesky accent marks.


Español es muy facíl.


Sorry Craig, but I’ve seen too many of your (sic)s to resist.

Way to go, Fred.

Typical of Bush to take a stand on an issue of absolutely no significance whatsoever. Eleven million people in the country illegally and that’s the best he can do? As for Wilentz, Schramm should be glad: at least he holds up Lincoln as our greatest president. It’s hard to think of a more Lincoln-like president that George Bush. What could be more Lincolnian than trying to make Bagdahd look like Boston?

espanol es muy facil.


What did you just say??

But when it comes to pandering for Hispanic votes (or contributions), he’s been more than happy to mangle some Spanish at a public appearance, or even put his seal of approval on a campaign ad that was ONLY in Spanish. I guess the idea was that they didn’t need to know English before they voted for him, but they should have enrolled in English classes the day after his inauguration.

It means Spanish is easy, Lisa (familiar with the word "facile" by any chance?).

I can’t take anyone seriously that thinks Reagan was the worst president in history. I would however recommend they see a doctor because they are obviously not right in the head. This stuff with Bush being "the worst President in history" is just an attempt by Wilentz and the MSM to rewrite history. It failed with Reagan and as time will show it will fail with Bush.

I have read this debate with great interest, and I agree with Lisa. If we ourselves do not end up speaking Spanish in our lifetimes, then our children certainly will- IF we don’t do anything to stem the tide NOW.

The Great Charlie Daniels had a good post on the subject over at his blog:

Mexican Standoff

I don’t know how everybody else feels about it, but to me I think Hispanic people in this country, legally or illegally, made a huge public relations mistake with their recent demonstrations.

I don’t blame anybody in the world for wanting to come to the United States of America, as it is a truly wonderful place. But when the first thing you do when you set foot on American soil is illegal it is flat out wrong and I don’t care how many lala land left heads come out of the woodwork and start trying to give me sensitivity lessons.

I don’t need sensitivity lessons, in fact I don’t have anything against Mexicans, I just have something against criminals and anybody who comes into this country illegally is a criminal and if you don’t believe it try coming into America from a foreign country without a passport and see how far you get.

What disturbs me about the demonstrations is that it’s tantamount to saying, “I am going to come into your country even if it means breaking your laws and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

It’s an “in your face” action and speaking just for me I don’t like it one little bit and if there were a half dozen pairs of gonads in Washington bigger than English peas it wouldn’t be happening.

Where are you, you bunch of lilly livered, pantywaist, forked tongued, sorry excuses for defenders of The Constitution? Have you been drinking the water out of the Potomac again?

And even if you pass a bill on immigration it will probably be so pork laden and watered down that it won’t mean anything anyway. Besides, what good is another law going to do when you won’t enforce the ones on the books now?

And what ever happened to the polls guys? I thought you folks were the quintessential finger wetters. Well you sure ain’t paying any attention to the polls this time because somewhere around eighty percent of Americans want something done about this mess, and mess it is and getting bigger everyday.

This is no longer a problem, it is a dilemma and headed for being a tragedy. Do you honestly think that what happened in France with the Muslims can’t happen here when the businesses who hire these people finally run out of jobs and a few million disillusioned Hispanics take to the streets?

If you, Mr. President, Congressmen and Senators, knuckle under on this and refuse to do something meaningful it means that you care nothing for the kind of country your children and grandchildren will inherit.

But I guess that doesn’t matter as long as you get re-elected.

Shame on you.

Pray for our troops.

What do you think?

God Bless America

Charlie Daniels
April 3, 2006

The last I heard about Sean Wilentz he had written a new book praising every Jeffersonian-Jacksonian Democrat and slighting every Federalist and Whig. Before that he was running his mouth as the head of the "Historians Against Impeachment"; not the impeachment of George W. Bush but the impeachment of Bill Clinton. We know where Wilentz and his Princeton colleauges have made their political beds, is it aby wonder that no one listens to them anymore?

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