Recession Must Be Ending—

Springtime for But-Birds

One of the surest signs that the Great Recession might be ending is the resurgence of the But-Birds.

And no, while there are great similarities, not the ones who would need to spell it with an extra letter T.

Like the feathered dudes who chirp the coming Spring, these birds all have their distinctive calls:

n “I’m not against health care for everyone, but I’m against socialized medicine.

n “Sure, the wealthy ought to pay a bigger share of taxes, but you can hardly call my income bracket wealthy.”

n “Of course I believe in equal opportunity, but I’m against reverse discrimination.

n “You can speak any language you want, but English ought to be the official language of government.

And just as the guys with feathers either migrate in the winter or keep under cover, But-Birds wait until the recession starts to thaw before they emerge. The last group, the But-Birds who want all governing done only in English are a related species to the ones who “supports immigration, but not illegal immigration.” You can usually find them together, and their call is starting to be heard again. Still, one But-Bird at a time. . .

Last month, Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, introduced English-only legislation, saying according to his web site:

“Our nation was settled by a group of people with a common vision, and as our population has grown, so has our cultural diversity. . .This diversity is part of what makes our nation great. However, we must be able to communicate with one another so that we can appreciate our differences. By establishing that there is no entitlement to receive documents or services in languages other than English, we set the precedent that English is common to us all in the public forum of government.”

The effort is called the National Language Act of 2009. If you look at the statement above and realize that “however” is the way someone speaking their Sunday-Go-To-Meeting Language says “but,” you’ll see the But-Bird’s native behavior in its habitat.

Which is to say the behavior that preys on the anti-immigrant, mostly anti-Hispanic fears of a But-Bird’s constituency. This is the 111^th Congress, meaning our democracy has survived 110 previous ones, and Senator Inhofe’s web site explains he was up to similar stuff in Nos. 109 and 110.

English-only proponents, as Senator Inhofe says in that statement, seek to improve communication by denying a large group of folk the easiest way to communicate. And they ignore that the “common vision” that brought almost all groups to the United States was to get far away from societies hell-bent on enforcing a common vision. You know – one monarch, one faith, one tongue, one culture; Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Fuhrer; Workers of All Countries Unite; Serve The People. And all the others too tiresome to repeat or live under.

They also ignore that the children of Spanish-speaking immigrants inevitably learn English and that their children will usually speak only English – as did the Polish. Italian, Greek, Russian. Ukrainian, German, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and many others before them. And they ignore that making it easier for the largest immigrant group to put down roots in our society by offering them help in their own language at key points actually speeds the assimilation process.

Still, the ritual tweets of the But-Birds, even this one, mean that a pre-dawn is breaking the recession darkness.

We just have to be careful of the gifts these birds have a habit of dropping on the rest of us.

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