Where Does Carl Levin stand on making English the Official Language?

 Every American knows and often recites the Pledge of Allegiance:
 
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
 
One thing that has made America unique throughout its history is its "indivisibility."  But is America truly indivisible? Can anything happen that could cause division to occur?

The United States has endured trying times, periods when the dividing of our nation seemed almost certain. The slavery issue appeared to be the one that would permanently divide us.

I don't think anyone would disagree that to continue to be a great and strong nation, we must continue as a united, indivisible nation. Abraham Lincoln was right when, paraphrasing a passage of scripture, he said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."

Every four years, we elect a president. The campaign can become quite bitter or vitriolic at times. Our political or moral disagreements come to the forefront. And yet, after all the votes have been counted and a new president is elected the transition of power occurs peacefully. One can only hope that this will always be the case.

What is it that keeps us unified? What is the glue that holds us together as a nation? I suppose there are many factors, but I would argue that one of the most important ingredients to a strong, unified, indivisible nation is a common language. We take for granted that people who live 3,000 miles away speak the same language and can understand us when we communicate with them. But how long will we survive if we cannot understand each other?

As the United States continues to accept and assimilate immigrants into our society (as we always have) without demanding that they learn the English language, we will begin to see, I believe a "balkanization" of this great country. We will begin to break up into regions that have differing interests, where residents can no longer easily identify with one another and where they cannot even understand one another. We are already beginning to lose that ability to travel from one end of the country to the other and still feel like we are from the same homeland.

It is important that we pass a National English Language bill in the Congress. Unfortunately, efforts to do so have stalled. Senator Carl Levin  scores an "F" with US English.org for his refusal to support pro-English legislation. Perhaps it is time to contact the Senator and ask him to do what 87% of the public wants him to do, make English the official language of the land. Let's do this before we see the fabric of this nation further unraveled by residents who no longer identify themselves as Americans and are unable or unwilling to speak the language that has unified us for over two hundred years.

My pledge to you is that as a U.S. Senator, I will do the same thing I did as a State Representative; I will introduce a bill to make English the official language of the land.