We’re back to debating English as the official language

For all the talk I hear about how Republicans are succeeding because they’ve been able to craft new ideas and take on new issues, it’s amazing how often the GOP looks back to re-fight old battles for no reason.

Last week, it was the reintroduction of an amendment on flag-burning. As if that early-90s fight wasn’t enough, this week, it’s English as the nation’s official language.

America is awash in foreign languages, even in rural areas, and some members of Congress say that is building support to declare English the nation’s official language.

Alas, we’re not just talking about a few right-wing groups raising a fuss, though there are a few groups gearing up to put this on the national agenda. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) introduced the “English Language Unity Act of 2005” last week. And while nutty measures that no one cares about get introduced all of the time, this one (H.R.997) quickly picked up 66 co-sponsors.

King seems to realize that this might put Bush on the spot — the president opposed English-only laws as governor — but he doesn’t much care.

“The big reason is, this is the second Bush term. There were folks out there that didn’t want to put the president in a spot where he would have had to make a decision like this,” Mr. King says, and now that the president no longer has to seek re-election, “there’s no reason to back away so the White House doesn’t have controversy.”

I won’t bother too much getting into the merits of this nonsense — the law would do nothing to teach English, so it would really just be a symbolic slap to the face of immigrants — but it’s nevertheless startling to see so many Republicans grab hold of this.

Here I was thinking that both sides recognize Hispanic voters as the top “swing” constituency in the country, leading to the demise of such ridiculous proposals as this one. Even putting aside concerns over narrow-minded bigotry and xenophobia, for those who consider this with an eye towards political pragmatism, far-right Republicans are supposed to know not to put some bizarre culture war ahead of Karl Rove’s plan to expand the GOP.

But, hey, if this is where the right wants to go, fine. Bring…it…on.