Geno’s Steaks, a famous Philly Cheesesteak operation in the City of Brotherly Love, recently was given a pass after getting in trouble for having signs around the shop that read: “This is America: When Ordering Please Speak English”. As of now, this country does not have English (or any language) as its “National Language”, and the issue often brings up a lot of different emotions among a lot of different people. I have a lot of political leanings, and its rare that I’m going to express them here unless I feel pretty strongly about it, and this is one of those items. I’m one of the members of the camp that wants English to be declared as the national language, however I’m guessing my reasons are a little bit different than the “ZOMG DEY TERK OUR JERBBBBS” mentality that generally occupies this side of the argument.

My feeling is pretty straight forward, and allow me to go into it a bit. Our nation prides (or at least tries to pride) itself on being a “melting pot” of cultures. Say what you will on whether you feel we’re a “melting pot” or a “salad bowl”, but we’ve certainly got a lot of world cultures congregating in this country. And I feel that that that is a good thing, and not only that, I feel that’s a GREAT thing. Part of what makes this nation strong is the rich contributions, experiences, and hard work of people from around the world who have made the U.S. their home. However if we ever want to consider ourselves a unified country that truly is a “melting pot”, we’ve got to have something that unifies us all, and it seems the most obvious item that will achieve that goal is a uniform language. I’m not arguing that newcomers abandon their culture or their language; they’re welcome to speak and practice what they wish as much or as little as they want. I’m just suggesting that if we all had a national uniform language, then the march into the future might be a whole lot easier. Even if such a law were to pass, is the reality of everyone speaking English even possible? Probably not, but I feel it should at least be a goal.

Let the flames begin.