By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist
By an overwhelming margin, the English-only movement will score another victory Tuesday in Missouri. Voters are about to approve English as "the language of all governmental meetings." But so what?
This is one of those feel-good, mean-nothing movements that has swept the country in the last few decades.
California voters passed similar laws by a 73-27 percent margin in 1986; Florida by 84-16 in 1988; Utah by 67-33 in 2000; and Arizona by 73-27 in 2006.
In Missouri, passage of Constitutional Amendment No. 1 won't mean anything to anyone except the English-only supporters. They will use its passage to continue fundraising for their cause.
They will have added Missouri to their list of English-only states, bringing the total to about 30 (some laws are under judicial review).
The backers of the law have provided no evidence to Missourians showing that not having English as the "language of all governmental meetings" has led to any harm whatsoever -- to local, county or state governments.
So why will it pass easily?
Because the overwhelming number of people in Missouri speak English and think everyone ought to. That's enough to flip the "yes" lever on Nov. 4 at the polls.
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Yael, what it does do is
Yael,
what it does do is help to remove the burden on smaller municipalities who right now are required by law to provide translations of documents and proceedings to the language of the person.
This is will simply make it so that they do not have to do this if they choose. Larger counties such as Jackson or St. Louis will continue to provide this sort of thing. But smaller areas will be allowed to beg off providing this or the customer will have to pay for the service.
For the most part it is a moral victory for some but it does have some tiny bit of method to its madness.
Yael, what it does do is
Yael,
what it does do is help to remove the burden on smaller municipalities who right now are required by law to provide translations of documents and proceedings to the language of the person.
This is will simply make it so that they do not have to do this if they choose. Larger counties such as Jackson or St. Louis will continue to provide this sort of thing. But smaller areas will be allowed to beg off providing this or the customer will have to pay for the service.
For the most part it is a moral victory for some but it does have some tiny bit of method to its madness.