Proposition 63: Official Language

A Shakespearean play could have ridiculed the difference between a good idea, such as immigrants learning English, and a bad law, such as Proposition 63.

The free market, economic imperative, is the best English teacher, and a 1985 Rand Corp. study of Mexican immigrants in California reported that new arrivals are already learning English at a rate equal to or greater than previous immigrant groups (including the family predecessors of nearly all readers of this letter).

Supporters of Proposition 63 (at least the approximate 80% who are literate) should read the actual proposal. It invites each and every of California’s 25 million residents to sue California if they take umbrage to any aspect of the state’s activities in this area.

I am a willing and ready litigant, and all I need is one sympathetic judge.

Department of Motor Vehicles registrations are state documents and I’ll sue to stop registration of cars with non-English names--not just Nissans and Mercedes, but also Chevrolets, Cadillacs, Pintos and Cordobas.

Department of Motor Vehicles driver’s licenses are state documents and I’ll sue to stop licensing of any person whose first, middle or last names are not of verifiable English origin.

I’ll sue to stop use of the State Seal, which contains the Greek word “Eureka”.

I’ll sue to stop the state’s use of the U.S. dollar bill, which is rife with Latin.

I’ll sue to stop state accreditation of any school that teaches any language other than English, including parochial schools that teach Hebrew and Latin, and high schools and colleges that teach French.

I’ll sue to stop state licensing of any doctors, dentists or pharmacists who use the Latin terminology of their medical profession.

I’ll sue the state to quit using its own name.

English is a fine language, but let’s not get carried away.

DAVE QUICK

Los Angeles