I attended the debate on the English Only charter amendment (which the supporters keep erroneously referring to as English First to hide their true intentions) to watch my husband and the other panelists make their case. I have so much to say about that hour that I am about to explode. But, since I just cleaned the kitchen, I will refrain from reaching the point of bodily fragmentation.

Before delving into my thoughts on today, let me reiterate what I have written before. I am a conservative. I am opposed to English Only because I am a conservative. We should not be wasting money on unnecessary measures that lessen our image around the country and the world.

I will be embarrassed for the city of Nashville if this amendment passes on January 22. It is simply bad, small-minded law. The state of Tennessee already provides for English as the official language of government, including local functions. Title VI as deemed by the federal government requires equal services for everyone in issues of health and safety. And, as we should know from a basic civics class, the U.S. Constitution overrides Nashville law. As one attendee asked, “Should we be prepared to secede from the United States in order to embrace this useless amendment?” Indeed.

Councilman Crafton repeatedly bragged that he had once started a Metro Council meeting in Japanese. He is the only councilman to use a foreign language in Metro business, he told us again and again. He wanted to prove the point that such a scary situation could someday be reality in Nashville. DCRP Chair Tom Lawless then called him out and said, “So, you admit before this entire group that you broke state law and your oath by conducting business in a foreign language.” Crafton retorted with a weak response that implied Lawless had not been practicing law long enough to know what he is talking about.

Here is another one of my favorite exchanges:

Nathan read the state law which makes English the official language of government in Tennessee. To prove that this does apply to local functions, Nathan pointed out the local responsibilities of education and printing ballots that are specifically included in the state law.

Crafton: You added words that aren’t there. You aren’t being truthful.

(Duh. My husband was just trying to make the point that local duties must be in English.)

Nathan: Fine. Here’s the state law (hands him paper). Read it however you like. Educate us.

Crafton: The schools are run by the Department of Education at the state level.

Nathan: Don’t we have a Metro School Board?

Crafton: Let’s just move on to something else …

Tim Skow had by this point moved past the pretense of being a moderator of the debate and had joined in the argument for the English Only crowd, so he obligingly agreed. This moved the number of people arguing for English Only to four (Jon Crisp, Eric Crafton, Tim Skow, and Jim Roberts) with one arguing against. Funny how my husband still won.

Nathan pointed out that, yes, many other local governments have adopted English as their official language. Almost all of these cities number only several thousand in population. Nashville is supposedly a midsize city that desires national prominence. Why put ourselves in a category with Taneytown, MD, population 5000? Again, we look small. The other side argued that Nashville could lead the way for other major cities to pass such measures. Sure. Atlanta, New York, Dallas, etc. are going to look at Nashville after this measure passes and think, “Now, there’s a forward-thinking place. Let’s do what they are doing.”

I have so much more to write, so I will make a Part Two post later this evening. But, I must conclude with these points for now. Are we really going to become the marginalized regional party that the pundits predicted after the last election? If you want that to happen, then passing amendments like English Only is a great way to make that happen. It is a useless, redundant, costly piece of writing that only serves the purpose of turning away people who want to come to our great city. That is anything but my vision of being a conservative. Are we going to stroke the ego of a councilman who wants to make his mark so that he can run for Councilman-at-Large in 2011 with a amendment that is devoid of substance? After all, according to Jon Crisp, the amendment is largely symbolic and even Crafton admits he doesn’t really know what its effects will be. Yeah, that’s really conservative.

More later …