Twenty-six American states have already passed laws declaring English their official language. Iowa wants to make it 27.
One would think legislators have better things to do than spending valuable time on laws that have little or no benefit, as has already been demonstrated in the states that preceded Iowa.
Generally, states have declared English their official language because of an increase in immigration, concern that new arrivals did not want to learn English and fear that the U.S. would fall apart without the glue represented by a common language. English-only laws also reflect a desire to get rid of bilingual education, which many Americans fear will Balkanize the country, as they think has already happened in Canada. If all Americans speak English, the fantasy goes, then a lot of problems will disappear.
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