Finally.  It’s about time that a legislative body removed their political head out of their arse, and made English the official language of the county.  The Frederick County Commission passed the new ordinance by a vote of 4 to 1 on February 21, 2012.

Commissioner Young made the motion, whereupon Commissioner Smith seconded.  Vote was taken shortly after, and the lone dissenting vote was made by Commissioner David P. Gray.  I’m certain that Mr. Gray has, what he thinks, are valid reasons for voting this way.  For the life of me, I can’t imagine why.   If you would like to ask Mr. Gray why he voted in such an un-American way, he can be reached at dgray@FrederickCountyMD.gov.  I did.  And if I receive an answer, I will publish his remarks here.

The official wording of the ordinance follows:  “The use of a common language removes barriers of misunderstanding and helps to unify the people of Frederick County, the state and the United States, and helps to enable the full economic and civic participation of all its citizens, regardless of national origin, creed, race or other characteristics, and thus a compelling governmental interest exists in promoting, preserving and strengthening the use of the English language.”

The text is a little wordy, and leaves some room for interpretation, but it’s now THE LAW.  Official county documents and business will be written and conducted in English only.

A huge “Thank you” goes out to President Blaine Young, Vice President Paul Smith, and Commissioners Billy Shreve and Kirby Delauter for a job “Well Done”.  They can stand straight and hold their heads high, for the passage of a new forward thinking law, that can only serve to benefit all the residents of the county.  Though the law may be controversial, and quite possibly risky to their future political endeavors, these 4 men stepped up to the plate anyway, and hit a home run.  Kudos.

It’s my understanding that the Anne Arundel County Commissioners are looking at passing a similar law.  If the State of Maryland would step forward and pass the same type of legislation, they could join the 28 other patriotic, red-blooded, flag-waving States that have previously passed a law stating that English is the official language of their proud republics.  Those States are: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming.

The United States government has had similar bills proposed, in the House and Senate, over the last few years, and has been defeated each time.  Shame on them.  You may be interested to know that some of the “nay” voters were: Representatives Pelosi, Sarbanes, Hoyer, Salazar, Barney Frank, Dennis Kucinich, and Senators Boxer, Dodd, Feinstein, Mikulski, Reid, Kennedy, Kerry, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama.  In their defense, the article for establishing English as the official language of the United States was tagged onto several other bills.  Nevertheless, separate bills could have been proposed by any one of these high ranking, elected members of Congress………but………they weren’t.

The English language should be, and must be, the official language of the entire country.  It may not be the politically correct way, but it is the AMERICAN WAY!!

FB 02/23/2012