Tom Tancredo wraps his bigotry in the American flag for the Miami Herald:
I declined the invitation to participate in the Spanish-language Republican presidential debate on Sunday because I do not want to endorse the further Balkanization of American political life.
The debate is being sponsored by Univisión, the country’s largest Spanish-language network, and the candidates’ answers will be translated into Spanish. Spanish-language news broadcasts and public-affairs programming is an expression of our First Amendment freedoms. I have given many interviews to Univisión as well as local Spanish-language stations. However, a Spanish-language presidential debate is a different animal altogether.
The question of bilingualism is not new to American politics. A former Republican president, Theodore Roosevelt, once spoke about the importance of new immigrants giving up their old languages and allegiances in order to become equal partners in American democracy:
“We freely extend the hand of welcome and of good fellowship to every man, no matter what his creed or birthplace, who comes here honestly intent on becoming a good United States citizen like the rest of us. . . . Americanism is a question of spirit, conviction and purpose, not of creed or birthplace. The politician who bids for the Irish or German vote, or the Irishman or German who votes as an Irishman or German, is despicable, for all citizens of this commonwealth should vote solely as Americans.”
Can anyone imagine Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft having a Republican primary debate in German or Italian in 1912? Of course not.
Funny thing. Woodrow Wilson won the election in 1912. I bet he would have been willing to talk to people in German.
This is the only country in the world that celebrates the fact that we can’t speak any foreign languages. We should all be learning Spanish. If there is a hell, people will speak nothing but Spanish and Tom Tancredo will be miserable.
