Taking the oath of citizenship means pledging allegiance to the American constitutional republic. It is unfortunate, even dangerous, that some activists are now working to terminate the requirement that new citizens renounce all prior national allegiances and also to end the English language requirement for citizenship. A shared allegiance is a treacherous idea that figured prominently in the psyche of many spies who tried to rationalize giving U.S military and scientific secrets to the enemy. As a condition of naturalization in the United States, current law requires the ability to read, write and speak simple words in ordinary usage in the English language. I want to become an American so I can vote.
Many people come to America for freedom.
The U.S. Constitution is written in English, and our Rule of Law, including all statutes and judicial decisions, is based on more than 200 years of development of an enormous body of law in one language. The English language is the most important tie that binds us together as a nation. Many constitutional rights are built on the premise that the public understands one common language. The right to a public trial requires that the public understand the language spoken at the trial, and the right to a reasoned judicial decision assumes that the decision is written in a language that the litigants understand. The right to petition the government assumes that the government and the public speak a common language.