Should English be the official language of the United States?

[Suburbia]

Lou Dobbs says on Fox Business and said on CNN years ago, that English should be the national and official language of the U.S., and that "illegal immigrants" should abandon their language to accommodate their "new country". What type of legislation would be needed for this? Thoughts?

[ElectionsGuy]

No, as different people we speak different languages and I don't support a language police that would possibly put a burden on people who speak Spanish or French.

[PiMp DaDdy FitzGerald]

You would need a supermajorities in both houses of congress and 37 states to call consitutional covens. This will only happen with a massive rally.
I only know of racists who want English to be the de jure national language.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Not having an official language is what America is all about, or at least a component of what we've together defined the cultural entity known as "America" to be about.

[Mopsus]

What would making English the official language even change, technically speaking?

[H. Ross Peron]

Yes although obviously this does not mean we'd ban the speaking of other languages or their use in signs, television etc.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

It already is the de facto official national language.  It's not as if there is any business the government conducts that cannot be done using English.

[SWE]

No

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

I could go with or without it being official.

[TNF]

Is this really worth answering?

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

It's already the language of state, isn't it? By default, it's our official language.

[AggregateDemand]

What is English? Are we going to have word police like Quebec and France to let us know what is and what isn't acceptable language?

I think not.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

It doesn't need to be any more official than it already is.

[tik 🪀✨]

I am genuinely curious to hear good reasons why it ought to be.

[muon2]

There's a number of meanings for "official language".  I can mean the use of English as the official language for legal documents including laws, it can interpreted as a designation of English as a language for all business in the country, and it can be merely a formal recognition of English in an official capacity. Thirty states already use English as the official language of the state - that's the legal sense. As you can see in the map below some states have had that requirement for quite some time, and other states have jumped on the more recent bandwagon as suggested by some posts.



IL has had it since 1969 and it doesn't stop providing services in a variety of languages. It just means that English is the official language in the same sense that the cardinal is the official state bird and "Land of Lincoln" is the official state slogan. There are also specific official records in IL that are required to be in English. There's a useful policy goal to have those records in English since it simplifies the need for the courts to have translation from any number of arbitrary languages.

[All Along The Watchtower]

It doesn't need to be any more official than it already is.

[eric82oslo]

Only, ONLY, and only if, Spanish becomes official as well.

I'd say no.

Mexico has like 100 official languages.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

[RosettaStoned]

 Of course it should be.

[Goldwater]

It doesn't need to be any more official than it already is.

[politicallefty]

I really don't see the point. As already mentioned, it's the de facto official language.

I'd really be far more happy to see all those that advocate for this to actually have strong proficiency in the English language themselves. Sadly, the opposite tends to be the case. (I think this view has also been mentioned above in jest. )

[DemPGH]

Official how? Insofar as official documents and public communication are in English, which is kind of what "official language" means, yes of course, but every effort should obviously be made to accommodate SOL (speakers of other languages).

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

No.  What's the point?  Because "this is Amurrica?"  Because "I don't like having to take five seconds to find the English section in a manual?"  How is effectively denying government and legal services to people not fluent in the English language going to make things better?

Would any of the twelve people who voted in the affirmative like to explain why?

[Repub242]

Yes, I believe that English should be the official language of the United States.

[Hatman 🍁]

Yes, along with Spanish too. (Any language that 10%+ of the country speaks should be official)