Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King argued Thursday that lawmakers should pass a bill that makes English the official U.S. language because unity, rather than diversity, is America’s strength.
King’s bill would make English the official language of the United States so that all federal government communications would have to be conducted in English.
“The argument that diversity is our strength has really never been backed up by logic,” said King. “It’s unity is where our strength is. Our Founding Fathers understood that. Modern-day multiculturalists are defying that. But here is what has been our success: assimilation. Coming together as one people under one flag with a common cause and a common experience and common language. That’s the strength of America, not dividing us, uniting us is the strength of America.”
King, speaking in Washington, D.C. said that “nothing binds people together more strongly than having a common language. And our language is getting subdivided by some forces of the federal government. It’s time to pull it together and speak with a common voice here in the federal functions of government. We don’t want to interfere with state functions or political subdivisions, but federal government functions needs to be in English.”
King also blasted the current administration, which he says, “is dividing people down the lines of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, prosperity, just to name a few.” He added, that Obama’s “political gains are about building coalitions of victims groups, and dividing Americans in the process of perpetuating and for him to have a chance at a second term in office. When we’re seeing the federal government divide people, and the Executive Order 13166 that was signed by Bill Clinton into office, promotes multilingualism within government services and costs us billions of dollars in the long run. We want to eliminate that.”