Nathan Moore's Thoughts
10 Considerations for Republicans Who Are Supporting English Only
In no particular order, here are ten things to consider if you consider yourself a Nashville Republican and support the English Only amendment to the Metro Charter.
1. The official language of Tennessee, and all of its governmental entities, including its political subdivisions, is already English.
2. The English Only charter amendment is premised on a fear that Metro government meetings will some day be ambushed, and held in a non-English language. The only person who has ever done this (and who did it while also knowing English), is the amendment’s chief supporter. In short, it is addressing a problem that neither exists nor is imminent.
3. The English Only amendment will do nothing to stem illegal immigration. Illegal immigrants already come here, knowing they do not know the language. Legislating English “only” will work as well as gun control, and is based on the same false belief that just because you pass a law, it does not mean people are going to follow it.
4. English Only also affects legal immigrants. Millions of people during the existence of our Republic have legally arrived on our shores knowing only their native language. Today is no different. Studies today still show that the second generation becomes fluently bilingual, and by the third generation, the native tongue is lost altogether.
5. Everyone reading this is an immigrant. Many are of German descent. There was a fear in the latter part of the 19th century in Pennsylvania that the German language would “take over” because 1/3 of the population spoke German. That did not happen, and the percentage of Spanish speakers in Nashville is significantly less than 1/3.
6. The English Only amendment is too broad to affect just illegal immigration. The amendment could have been tailored to deny government services to those who cannot show proper documentation of their residency. This would have been effective, non-duplicative, and would have garnered my support. What we have instead is the equivalent of using a bulldozer to perform brain surgery.
7. Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Executive Order 13166 requires that any local government department that receives federal money must provide its services in multiple languages. Of the $110,000.00 Metro spends per year on the translation hotline, over 97% of its usage is by Title VI affected programs. That means we are spending up to half a million dollars on an election that will save us, at most, $3,100.00 per year. It will take over 100 years to realize the nominal savings from holding this election.
8. Nashville’s documented non-native born population tripled from 1990 to 2000, from 12,662 to 39, 596. It is estimated that it has potentially increased by another 5,000 to 6,000 since then. These people will eventually vote, and are learning English. Immigrants accounted for 45% of the city’s population growth. English Only sends a message of exclusivity that is unnecessary, and will be politically disastrous for us as a party. We should be welcoming new Americans (and voters).
9. It has been admitted by English Only’s chief supporters that it is largely symbolic, and even they admit they don’t know what its actual effects
10. No major city has passed such an amendment. Clarksville, Tennessee, the home of Ft. Campbell, has rejected an English Only bill. However, other, smaller cities have adopted it, such as Inez, Kentucky (pop. 466), Landis, North Carolina (pop. 2,996) and Hazleton, Pennsylvania (pop. 23,329). We as a city must choose what league we want to be in. The contention that this is “cutting edge” is actually the opposite.
Well, I have one more, actually…
11. The group pledging resources to English First, the local group promoting the English Only amendment, is called ProEnglish. ProEnglish is an offshoot of FAIR (the Federation for American Immigration Reform). Both groups were founded by John Tanton. Tanton was on the population control committee for the Sierra Club in the early 1970s, and is opposed to all immigration. His group, FAIR, of which ProEnglish is a part, has been connected to various sundry groups (an Anti-Defamation League report on FAIR can be found here
). FAIR has knowingly accepted money from the Pioneer Fund, described by the editorial board of The Wall Street Journal as a “white-supremacist outfit devoted to racial purity through eugenics.” (the piece is here – and definitely worth a read).
I am not saying the local people supporting English Only are ill-meaning, but without a doubt, the money behind the amendment is something we Republicans ought to shun.
January 9th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
Thanks to Nathan for calling this stupid, symbolic, expensive, grandstanding, politically motivated, harmful, unnecessary measure stupid, symbolic, expensive, grandstanding, politically motivated, harmful and unnecessary.
He’s been called out for not being ‘conservative’ on this issue but his opponents (the supporters of the issue) simply illustrate that stupid transcends political ideology.
January 9th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Time well spent would be taking laws of the books, not creating ego boosting garbage like this to burden the population with one more way to kill a tree for excess paper use, and accomplish nothing. When did Republicans start trying to create more government? Not very conservative if you ask me.
This from a conservative first, Repub. second.
Jon…if you are reading this, you were not as paranoid as this years ago…
January 9th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
PS – Note to Nathan….Fort Smith Ark (Population 273,179 Metro Area)and and Green Bay Wisc. (Population 226,778 Metro Area) have now passed English First laws.
January 9th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Alaska Official English Law Overturned (2002)Alaska English-only law violates free speech, judge rules … English First, 8001 Forbes Place, Suite 109, Springfield, VA 22151 tel: (703) 321-8818 …
http://www.englishfirst.org/efstates_alaska.html – 6k – Cached – Similar pages
More results from http://www.englishfirst.org »
January 10th, 2009 at 1:09 am
Nathan, I am not home right now and cannot pull some things off my computer, but I will direct readers to a response by the Federation for American Immigration Reform to the feed that you have swallowed. In a response here, FAIR listed a few other recipients of donations from the Pioneer Fund, about which I know next to nothing:
“… FAIR rejects even the basis for this innuendo. The SPLC’s characterization of the Pioneer Fund is fraudulent. The Fund’s mission statement clearly states that it supports equal opportunity for all Americans, regardless of race, religion, national origin or ethnicity. Nearly all of the grants made by the Pioneer Fund have gone to major, respected research institutions and universities around the world. This list of grant recipients includes: four campuses of the University of California system, City College of New York, University of Connecticut, University of Illinois, Johns Hopkins University, University of London, University of Maryland, University of Minnesota, University of Montevallo, New York University, Smith College, University of Texas at Austin, Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, Cornell Medical School, Brandeis University, University of Sao Paolo, University of Western Ontario, University of Toronto, and Randolph-Macon College. In addition, any grants made to FAIR (and FAIR has not received any such money in over 15 years) were for general operating funds to be used to further FAIR’s mission statement….”
FAIR has addressed the stuff about Tanton on their Web site as well.
I’ve had my own criticisms of FAIR, but I have been associated with this org for many years, as an ally in the immigration-control and -reduction movement, and any notion that FAIR is a white supremacist org or associated with such hate groups in any way is ludicrous. The very first time I met a FAIR field rep in Georgia, it was made clear that FAIR does not swing that way and wants no association with anyone who does. We would not have had anything to do with FAIR if they did.
January 10th, 2009 at 1:13 am
I made a mistake somewhere in the attempt to link to the FAIR response, so let me try again here.
January 10th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Actually, I independently verified all of it. I do my own research. The FAIR response is vague and generalistic, much like the arguments being made on behalf of English Only. It is beyond debate that FAIR met with leaders of the Belgian political party Vlaams Blok for “advice on immigration”.
Garbage ad campaigns like this are troublesome as well
http://www.freetrade.org/node/211
The truth is always found in the leadership and the money. Let’s look at both.
There is no debate that FAIR received millions from the Pioneer Fund. They admit that.
Richard Lamm is on the board of FAIR. Read some excerpts from Richard Lamm’s 1985 book Megatraumas: America at the Year 2000, to see more of the lunacy.
Donald Collins, also a member of FAIR’s board, posts to VDare.com (their raison d’etre can be found here http://www.vdare.com/why_vdare.htm). These people are absolutely nuts.
Consider also that John Tanton, a Malthusian, thinks that immigrants are like bacteria (”In the bacteriology lab, we have culture plates. You put a bug in there and it starts growing and gets bigger and bigger and bigger. And it grows until it finally fills the whole plate. And it crashes and dies.”), or that he told the Detroit Free Press that unless America’s borders are sealed, the country would be overrun with people “defecating and creating garbage and looking for jobs.” (you can thank VDare.com for liking that one http://www.vdare.com/misc/archive00/fair_abraham.htm).
There is simply too much wrong with the people associated with this group to post on. Donna, if I were you, I would cancel my membership the next time the mail runs.
January 10th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Jon,
Yes, both of which are smaller cities than Nashville. At least in Green Bay, they also requested more funds for English classes. And also in Green Bay, despite passing the measure in 2002, second-language English speakers since 2000 are up 30% (http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20081226/GPG0101/812260553/1207). If Fort Smith is the blueprint, we are all in trouble.
I would still like to see a fiscal justification for the English Only bill. Eric seemed a bit bothered by the question earlier this week (and I wasn’t even the one asking it!). I must say I am shocked that the EnglishFirst.org website still maintains the lie that this would save any money.
January 10th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Debating what other cities have done is a distraction… trying to leverage a fragment to discredit the whole.
At face value this whole thing is ludicrous. Challenging or defending otherwise, point by point, doesn’t change that. What are you; a bunch of lawyers?
January 10th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Most white supremacist groups don’t call themselves that, Donna… they call themselves… uh… FAIR.
It seems I remember debating you on Hobbs’ site about this before. Do I remember right that you’ve got a personal interest in this? If I’m remembering correctly I am sorry for your loss.
I really don’t believe though that protectionist organizations that discourage willing workers and willing employers are very good for our country. I guess the immigrants do chew up a disproportionate amount of public resources but that leads to the argument of whether we should be providing those services for free in the first place.
Guest Worker made the most sense where we could get these people all documented and taxed and so that coming across the border legally to work and support ones family was the norm rather than sneaking in and start out on a bad foot. This would have allowed border agents not focus on the herds looking for a better life and to re-focus on the much smaller group of people who try to subvert a more reasonable system. It’s called making it easier to do right than it is to do wrong; and that way you improve quality and save a ton on controls.
Anyway, all of these thinly veiled racist or protectionist organizations prevent that kind of common sense just like common sense is being prevented with this issue now in Nashville. This amendment is a load of crap and at best is putting its supporters in bed with those who are racist and xenophobic.
We are all the product of our experiences but I recommend in this case that the whole lot of good people who are supporting this amendment take a step back and check their premises. Common sense should prevail here not protectionist fear or racially biased brainwashing.
January 10th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
I wish I had a dollar for every time my own motives have been impugned in “reports” and editorials. Nathan, I know many of these FAIR folks personally. It’s obvious you do not. The org is very diverse, racially and ethnically. I’ve noticed that white supremacist orgs tend to be anti-Semitic as well, with Nazi overtones. I will take this opportunity to point out that FAIR’s president, Dan Stein, and some of its lawyers and other members are Jewish and not into self-destruction that I’ve noticed. On the contrary, they are into self-preservation.
Regarding the Belgian thing Nathan refers to: On the scrippsnews.com site is a report that includes this:
“The [Southern Poverty Law Center] report also claims Stein held a meeting with members of Vlaams Belang, a Belgian political party — to ’seek advice’ in February. The group was renamed after it was banned as a racist political body by the Belgium Supreme Court.
Stein responded that he had never heard of the group.
‘(SPLC's) assertions about a meeting with Belgium activists are fraudulent, their assertions about the staff are fraudulent, their assertions about virtually everything else are fraudulent,’ Stein said.
However, FAIR's director of special projects, John Martin, said he himself met with the group, but that it was Vlaams Belang that was seeking advice because of the current ‘civil war’ in Belgium due to immigration. Martin said he regularly briefs foreign visitors.
‘They insisted, when I asked specifically about that, they did not have a racist policy,’ Martin said. ‘Having been a member of an organization that is attacked as being racist, which I know isn't true, I'm willing to believe people when they say that is not true in their case.’”
January 11th, 2009 at 12:23 am
Good find on that Green Bay Press-Gazette article … it’s like “let’s fast forward 5 years after passing English Only.” Has their law fixed anything? No.
“the actual number whose English skills are worse is going up”
oops.
January 11th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Donna,
I just report the facts. If you want to associate with people who say and believe these kinds of things, that’s your business.
Oops is right. The only arguments being made for English Only are emotional ones. The only rational vote is a “no” vote.
N
January 12th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Jon was disingenuous in using the “metro area” populations to describe the number of people affected by English Only legislation. During the last census, Fort Smith had 80,268 residents, and Green Bay had a population of 100,353.
In any case, neither are cities on the scale of Nashville.
January 13th, 2009 at 12:24 am
If this amendment does create a feeling among immigrants that Nashville is “exclusive and unwelcoming”, then I, for one, would vote for it on this basis alone. I’ve lived in Nashville since 1981, and initially lived in and around the Antioch area. Since that time, that area has become the one where most immigrants, especially Hispanics, have settled. It is also an area which has seen disproportionate growth in crime, especially gang-related crime, and not surprisingly, a corresponding decrease in property values. This isn’t “racist” or “xenophobic”, it’s a verifiable fact.
Also, the concept that the Republican party has to be “welcoming to new Americans” is truly laughable, and the kind of tripe that only someone who’s angling for future political office would spout. The folks that are coming here are mostly illegal aliens, which, last time I checked, aren’t supposed to vote. Apparently, like many in the current Republican leadership and virtually all of your legal brethren, you feel that laws regarding illegal immigration are simply an inconvenience that should be ignored when it comes to extending voting and similar rights, like free access to our health care facilities and our schools. This is the major reason why I, and I am certain millions like me, have abandoned the Republican Party and are unlikely to ever return.
If, in fact, this measure were to dissuade illegal immigrants from coming here, then the cost savings to the city, just from the potential reduction in crime alone, would more than pay for the cost of this special election. Regrettably, this objection is simply a canard that has no basis in fact, and is therefore, unlikely to stop anyone from settling in our city.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Call me radical but I don’t think we want to be like any city in Arkansas. And,to Gary R above: Neither illegal immigrants nor immigrants commit the majority of crime in Nashville.Check with our sheriff or police chief.Please be informed.