I knew that Newt Gingrich was contemplating a run for president, I just didn't realize he was aiming for the ticket of the Partida Independentista Portorriqueño.
But I can't see what else we can make of the news (thanks, Steve, for the link), that Gingrich advocates official monolingualism:
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich equated bilingual education Saturday with "the language of living in a ghetto" and mocked requirements that ballots be printed in multiple languages.
"The government should quit mandating that various documents be printed in any one of 700 languages depending on who randomly shows up" to vote, said Gingrich, who is considering seeking the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. He made the comments in a speech to the National Federation of Republican Women.
"The American people believe English should be the official language of the government. … We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto," Gingrich said to cheers from the crowd of more than 100.*
I'm reluctant to assume from these statements that Gingrich is simply pandering to a roomful of xenophobic monoglots. I'll admit that his statements seem to reveal a reprehensible contempt for Spanish-speaking citizens and a disgusting and undemocratic enthusiasm for voter suppression, but I don't want to leap to such an uncharitable conclusion.
Let's try to be kind and to see if there isn't some way of interpreting Gingrich's remarks that, despite the evidence he has presented, doesn't force us to conclude that the disgraced former speaker is a monumental douchebag.
Perhaps what Gingrich really means by all of this is that he supports Puerto Rican independence. After all, it makes no sense to speak of English as the "official language" of the United States while we retain sovereignty over a territory that is home to a population of native Spanish-speakers. So the only way to bring about the homogenous, monolingual America that Gingrich desires would be to allow, or to force, Puerto Rico to become wholly independent from the U.S.
Unfortunately Puerto Rico isn't the only, or the most difficult, obstacle to Gingrich's plan. The United States also seized other, much larger territories that are also home to native Spanish-speakers. And during the 159 years since the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, most of those territories have been accorded statehood.
Here we see the truly radical nature of Gingrich's English-only scheme: He wants to cede California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah back to Mexico.
At this point in history, I just don't think this plan is very practical. And despite the enthusiastic response from the Republican Women, I doubt this proposal will prove very popular.
I suppose it's possible that I'm trying too hard to read some non-repugnant motive into Gingrich's remarks. Maybe this wasn't what he really meant. Maybe he wasn't suggesting that there should only be 46 states in the English-only U.S. of A.
But if that's not what he's suggesting then I'm afraid we're left with only the one possible interpretation: Newt Gingrich is a monumental douchebag.
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* A "crowd of more than 100." Good to see that the National Federation of Republican Women is still every bit as relevant as the National Black Republican Association. If Gingrich keeps up this kind of thing, though, I'm guessing the RNHA will have a hard time getting even 100 people to show up at its national convention.
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