Nashville's "English-First" Vote Thursday
As you likely know, tomorrow is the vote on the referendum that would make it illegal for government to conduct business in any language but English, even in addition to English.
I am a right-leaning moderate who believes all Americans should speak English and yet still feels this measure is bad for Nashville. Other than pointing that out, however, I won't try to convince you to vote "No" on the two items up for vote tomorrow, as there is much better literature easily available than any argument I can muster and because your mind is likely quite made up at his point and a last minute appeal is unlikely to change your vote.
So let me be clear that I am addressing this to the assumed majority of readers who want to see this defeated, but may be tempted to stay home.
This measure will likely fail, but I feel it is important that this measure not only fail, but fail disastrously. I believe that despite himself, Eric Crafton has given us all an opportunity to send the nation a message about who we are that will reverberate for years: That we are a city that welcomes foreign visitors and business and one that absorbs and assimilates our immigrants instead of isolating them into ghettos where they're surely not going to learn English any faster. We have an opportunity to embarrass Eric Crafton so completely that he will never embarrass us with measures like these again.
So please take time out of your day to make it to your voting location and vote. You can find your location here: http://nashville.gov/vote/#
I am a right-leaning moderate who believes all Americans should speak English and yet still feels this measure is bad for Nashville. Other than pointing that out, however, I won't try to convince you to vote "No" on the two items up for vote tomorrow, as there is much better literature easily available than any argument I can muster and because your mind is likely quite made up at his point and a last minute appeal is unlikely to change your vote.
So let me be clear that I am addressing this to the assumed majority of readers who want to see this defeated, but may be tempted to stay home.
This measure will likely fail, but I feel it is important that this measure not only fail, but fail disastrously. I believe that despite himself, Eric Crafton has given us all an opportunity to send the nation a message about who we are that will reverberate for years: That we are a city that welcomes foreign visitors and business and one that absorbs and assimilates our immigrants instead of isolating them into ghettos where they're surely not going to learn English any faster. We have an opportunity to embarrass Eric Crafton so completely that he will never embarrass us with measures like these again.
So please take time out of your day to make it to your voting location and vote. You can find your location here: http://nashville.gov/vote/#