So far it looks like I may be the only voice of disagreement on this one. In nearly 232 years this country has done without a national language and I don't see any reason to change that. First of all I am a little foggy on the intent of an official language in the first place. Does it only pertain to the government or would it make it illegal for business to have signs in any language other than English? Or, does it mean that the government must provide English classes for legal immigrants? The latter doesn't sound very small government conservative to me. I'd like to share a few passages of a book call "What Would The Founders Do?" by Richard Brookhiser that pertain to this subject. "The founders learned foreign languages to stretch their minds: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson corresponded about the classics; Gouverneur Morris wrote little poems in French and German for his cosmopolitan friends. They used foreign languages when it suited their political or commercial interest: Benjamin Franklin, for all his Germanophobia, published the 'Philadelphische Zeitung', America's first German-language newspaper, because he hoped it would make money." pages 178-179 If the English-only movement is to make it illegal to speak another language in public, have signs in forgeign languages or to prohibit the publication of foreign language magazines, newspapers, and television channels it does nothing to preserve the American ideals this country was founded on. In reality it destroys them. History shows that legislation like this creates more legislation down the road. For Example, in the 1980's people would think that a smoking ban in bars and restaurants would be preposterous. In the 90's that took effect in California and since has been seen throughout the country and the rest of the world. In the 90's one would say that is was okay to prohibit it in bars and restaurants but it would never go farther than that. Last year two towns in California passed ordinances prohibiting smoking in your own home if it is adjoined to another, whether you "own" it or not. Not to mention the current trends to ban trans-fats in restaurant foods and a multitude of other nanny state regulation. I say all that to make the point that legislation like this tends to compound on top of itself and make what would seem ridiculous a reality. I now present this point. If English were the national language, would we one day be arresting Amish for speaking German? Would we be closing down store fronts in Chinatown and Little Havana if they failed to comply? What dialect of English would be the right one? I admit that, coming from Ohio, I don't really understand a lot of what people from Louisianna say. Does that make them wrong? Does it make me wrong? Finally, as far as Col. Riley's letter goes, I thought it was severely insulting. To call anyone who disagrees with him Un-American is absurd. I can only pray that he becomes a more tolerant, or at the very least, a more educated man. Sincerely, Bert