Newt Gingrich and Another Chapter in the English-preferred Movement

If-you-really-think-I-should Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has above-the-scroll billing on CNN.com this hour for a speech he gave yesterday in favor of English-only/preferred when it comes to the printing of government documents.

What grabs the headline, of course, is his conscious decision to equate bilingual education with "the language of living in a ghetto."

When reading this snippet, I was reminded of an old Dennis Miller bit in which he said that he never got into drugs not because he found their use to be particularly troublesome, but rather the people you had to do them with.

The English-only movement, as well as other political causes seem to be to be doomed by the same phenomena. It's hard to make a case that it really is in one's self-interest to know how to speak English in this country without being branded an Archie Bunker (or worse!) type.

The marijuana legalization movement, in my opinon, falls into this group, too. The so-called war on drugs in this country is fraught with problems from top to bottom...ranging from what qualifies as a "drug" to the way in which it is enforced.

However, when the luminaries of the movement are folks like the Black Crowes, it makes it a litte more desirable to just stay out of the way.

If the folks in the English-only crowd are actually serious about making a positive difference for people in this country (rather than just exploiting the issue solely for political gain), they might be wiser to rely more heavily on economic and sociological research that shows why this might be a good idea.

I won't hold my breath...lest my dear readers wonder what I'm smoking.