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I know it can get a little confusing, especially for places like Canada (where, Lord knows, if you get an English-speaking Canadian going on the topic of bilingualism, they won't stop until you cry mercy), but many countries actually have more than one official language. In some places, like India, a few languages are chosen as official state languages, and hundreds of other languages are "recognized". I don't think it's unreasonable to think that one day, we might have more than one official language in the US. First candidate is obviously Spanish.
Now, I'm a linguist, an a liberal one at that, but I do believe that people who move to a country should make an effort to speak the main or official language of that country, if only to help themselves and their economic prospects. When I lived abroad, I made a point to earnestly study the official language of my country of residence, even though most people could communicate with me in English if they wanted to, and I could have gotten by living with groups of ex-pat Americans. I thought it was respectful (and empowering, to say the least) to be able to communicate in Chinese, Japanese, or Spanish without consulting a phrase book.
That said, I don't think it would hurt our country to have more than one official language. It will happen, be it in 20, 50, or 100 years. And those wrinkled old white folks shrieking about cultural heritage and insulting our forefathers are going to look even more desperate and pathetic than they do now.
Brian: Ever hear of something called language change? It has to do with the gradual processes in which languages evolve. It's why you and I can't read Chaucer without translation, even though it's in the same language. It all boils down to this: languages are not pure, perfect things. They do not make us who we are. They change over centuries, and a few hundred years from now, English will have changed so much that our Bill of Rights will need to be updated and translated so that your descendants can read it.
Chew on that.
