<div dir="ltr"><h1>Column: GOP candidates create new language, "American", confound nation</h1>
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By <a href="http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu/staff/jacob-winkelman" target="_blank">Jacob Winkelman</a>
| Published 09/28/15 11:25am
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<p>As if calls for deportation and border fences along
Mexico and Canada weren’t already sinking Republican chances of winning
over Latino voters in 2016, Republican candidates have recently begun
championing a new line of rhetoric concerning the national language of
the United States.</p><p>To be clear, the U.S. doesn’t have an official
language. Various movements have tried over the years to grant English
the honor, but so far none have been successful, and English, Spanish,
Mandarin and every other language remain equally unofficial. </p><p>Carly
Fiorina, candidate for president, mistakenly identified English as the
official language in a recent television interview. Although this isn’t a
huge deal, it still seems like something someone running for the most
powerful job in the world should know.</p>
<p>What may become problematic for the Republican Party is that Fiorina’s gaffe was just the beginning.</p>
<p>Donald Trump criticized Jeb Bush for speaking Spanish at
campaign rallies and Sarah Palin declared on national television that
people should “speak American” in this country. It’s these comments, in
addition to constant calls for deportation from Republican candidates,
that lead many to believe the GOP may struggle quite a bit with Latino
voters in 2016.</p><p>In a recent MSNBC/Telemundo/Marist poll, Hillary
Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner, led Donald Trump, the current
Republican frontrunner, 69-22 percent among Latino voters. Despite
winning 44 percent of the Hispanic vote in 2004, the Republican Party
has since seen a steep decline in support from Hispanics, a phenomenon
that can be partly attributed to their far right positions on
immigration.<br>What’s more problematic than the general inaccuracy
surrounding U.S. language policy is the way in which candidates for
president are so quick to label anything other than English as
un-American. The U.S. has long toted its “Melting Pot” demographics and
the diversity that separates it from other Western countries. A country
supposedly rooted in a foundation of freedom would in theory fight to
preserve the right of its citizens to speak their language of choice.</p>
<p>Whether or not the language mishap actually impacts the
election remains to be seen. But what has become clear is that the
Spanish debate is just the beginning to the GOP’s problems with minority
outreach and their quest to secure the presidency.</p>
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<p>In addition to alienating minority voters, Trump’s spat
with Univision, Ben Carson declaring that he wouldn’t support a Muslim
president and Ted Cruz still running on opposition to same sex marriage,
leave the GOP counting on unprecedented amounts of white support to
offset the skepticism from minority groups. </p><p>In a 2012 “autopsy”
of the GOP commissioned by the Republican Party itself, repeated
suggestions were made for the GOP to soften its rhetoric and appeal to
more minority groups. With shifting demographics toward an increase in
minorities, the Republican Party will eventually have no choice but to
reform its policies.</p><p>As the election continues, the issues of
immigration, police brutality and healthcare will keep reappearing, only
further hurting the GOP chances with minority voters. Even if a
Republican who hasn’t made such inflammatory comments, such as Jeb Bush,
Marco Rubio or Lindsey Graham, wins the nomination, the Democrats
should and probably will knock the GOP candidate for their party’s past
rhetoric. </p><p>Comments about the national language probably wouldn’t
matter as much if they weren’t shrouded in talk about deportation,
amnesty or lack thereof and “Americanness.” Nationalism, jingoism and
racism have been a part of American politics since this nation’s
inception. Hopefully the ballot box in 2016 can send a forceful message
and put these dangerous and ignorant sentiments behind us. <br></p><p><br></p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div>**************************************<br>N.b.: Listing on the lgpolicy-list is merely intended as a service to its members<br>and implies neither approval, confirmation nor agreement by the owner or sponsor of the list as to the veracity of a message's contents. Members who disagree with a message are encouraged to post a rebuttal, and to write directly to the original sender of any offensive message. A copy of this may be forwarded to this list as well. (H. Schiffman, Moderator)<br><br>For more information about the lgpolicy-list, go to <a href="https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/" target="_blank">https://groups.sas.upenn.edu/mailman/</a><br>listinfo/lgpolicy-list<br>*******************************************</div>
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