Brits
Has anyone looked at this new British immigration plan? It's pretty crazy. Europe is really facing an immigration crisis over the next generation that should put ours to shame.
U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair plans to allow only people who speak English and have skills that are in demand to settle in Britain, after polls showed the public considers immigration rules to be too weak.
Even though such protectionist sentiments would probably fly huge here in the jingoistic States (globalization be damned!), I can't imagine American political realities ever allowing the Dems or the GOP to broach an "English-speaking-only" immigration plan. I mean, sheesh, 2004 saw Bush stab the Social Con/Nativist wing of his own party in the back in order to make gains in the Hispanic/Roman Catholic vote. It worked...But, what price glory?
3 Comments:
From a purely technical standpoint I imagine that Britain's official language is English, while (I believe) the USA has no official language. Technically at least. That would make it easier to make knowing the official language a requirement for entry.
The other facet here, not one that necessarily concerns anyone directly but maybe it sits at the backs of people's heads, is that America is a nation of immigrants. We have that whole little ditty on the Statue of Liberty. Letting in the unwashed masses isn't part of Britain's cultural identity whereas, as much as we might hate it, it is part of ours. It's kind of like a cultural edict that we'll always invite the uncool kids to the party, even though we know how lame they are, because it's the nice thing to do.
My Grandparents are always donating money to those English-first/English-only initiatives. It's strange, considering that they live in Northern Michigan, an area that's about as monolingual as they come.
Anyway 29 states (including CA, WA, Illinois, and New Hampshire, alongside the usual Southern dives) have lines in their constitutions declaring that English is their official language.
Of course, the glories of Federalism allow for all sorts of obscure caveats with regard to these English-only amendments. Check out this one from New Hampshire's constitution.
"The provisions of the Official State Language shall not apply:
I. To all public proceedings between the state of New Hampshire and the province of Quebec when, in the opinion of the state administrator involved in such proceedings, it may be necessary to conduct such proceedings between Quebec and New Hampshire wholly or partially in French, and to use official public documents and records during the public proceedings, which are written wholly or partially in French."
America!
Interesting tidbit: In 18th/early 19th century Europe, French was considered the official language of Diplomacy. So I guess if the Germans and Brits wanted to negotiate terms they would do it in French. I think that's pretty awesome. As we move towards monoculture it might also not be a bad way of preserving languages.
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