Should the United States designate English as the official language and make it a requirement for citizenship?

I vote yes because why should we have to bend over backwards to immigrants who have chosen to come to the United States to live. I am tired of hearing that we should tolerate their wanting to express their rights and heritage, but when it comes to the rights of the American citizens it seems we are the ones who have to be sensitive.

Just from a standpoint of efficiency you would think it would be better if everybody was able to speak the same language. It would also tie more people into feeling that they are part of the same group. I do feel it is wrong when governmental forms and services have to provided in just about every language out there.

I also agree that it is shameful how many of our fellow citizens are so ignorant about our country's structure, laws, geography, history and more. Not sure how to correct this, as many seem able to skate through our educational system while avoiding actually learning anything.

That being said, I do feel like Americans end up looking rather uneducated in comparison when I am constantly meeting ordinary people from other countries who speak three, four or more languages. Most Americans can speak only one or two languages (in many cases, English and bad English). It would definitely help economically to have more foreigners feel comfortable being able to visit and be served in their native tongue. We should be glad to attract them here so we can take their money.

English isn't the official language legally, but on every practical level it is. It is the language that our laws are written in, the language our government correspondence is written in, and the language that the vast, and I do mean VAST, majority of U.S. citizens use to interact with each other in society. Making it legally official would just be a formality or all intents and purposes.

That said, I would not support any legislation making it official. I strongly believe in individual freedom, and in context of this conversation that means an individuals freedom to use whatever language they desire to use. If an individual from China decides to immigrate to the U.S. and doesn't want to trade cantonese for english then I believe that should be their right. There are obvious consequences for this such as social/cultural isolation but the right to make that choice, consequences and all, should be allowed. We already have systems in place to close loopholes, such as the concept of "ignorantia juris non excusat" (ignorance of the law does not excuse). Our current system works, and changing it to make english the official and mandatory language would undermine what I consider the very American principle of individual freedom. Our freedom to make these types of choices are a large part of the reason why America is great in my opinion.

tl;dr - No, don't fix what isn't broken.

Definitely!

I absolutely believe that immigrants should be required to learn the English language. In my experience allowing so many immigrants to not be required to learn English is just another example of people attempting to keep others down. This is just another systematic example of those in power repressing those who are not. I know a lot of immigrants who are not given opportunities in this country simply because they do not speak the language.

I'll go with Cantonese

Yes, next question