official english legislation

[Laurence Horn]

At 12:35 PM -0500 6/1/01, Mai Kuha wrote:
>On Fri, 1 Jun 2001, Jordan Rich wrote:
>(...)
>>  >         `(a) UNIFORM LANGUAGE TESTING STANDARD- All citizens
>>should be able
>>  >to read and understand generally the English language text of the
>>  >Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Laws of the United
>>  >States made in pursuance of the Constitution.
>>  >
>>
>>  Absolutely horrible.
>>
>>  How can anyone vote for this in good conscience?
>>
>>  Jordan
>
>This is a bit off-topic, but, now that you point out this part, I can't
>help wondering whether the average native speaker of American English can
>understand these texts.
>
Presumably this requirement will be used as a retroactive screening
for all current citizens.  It will certainly make it easier to count
the votes in the next election, since there will be so many fewer
voters.