What if German was the Official US Language

You might have heard the rumor that German almost became the official language of the  United  States of America. The legend usually goes something like this: â€Å"In 1776, German came within one vote of becoming Americas official language instead of English.† It is a story that Germans, German teachers, and many other people like to tell. But how much of it is actually true? At first glance, it may sound plausible. After all, Germans have played an important role in US history. Think of the Hessian soldiers, von Steuben, Molly Pitcher and all that. It is estimated that about 17% of US-Americans have German ancestors.A closer look reveals several serious problems with this official-language story. First of all, the United States has never had an â€Å"official language†Ã¢â‚¬â€English, German or any other—and doesnt have one nowadays. Nor was there any such vote in 1776. Congressional debate and a vote concerning German probably did take place in 1795, but dealt with translating US laws into German, and the proposal to publish laws in languages other than English was rejected a few months later. It is likely that the myth of German as the official language of the US first arose in the 1930s, but it dates back to the countrys earliest history and another similar story. Most scholars suspect that the US legend originated as a German-American Bund propaganda move aimed at giving German added weight via the spurious claim that it had very nearly become Americas official language. By mixing wishful thinking with certain historical events in Pennsylvania, the Nazi-influenced Bund produced the national vote story. On reflection, it is ridiculous to think that German might have become the official language of the US. At no time in its early (!) history was the percentage of Germans in the United States ever higher than about ten percent, with most of that concentrated in one state: Pennsylvania. Even in that state, at no time did the number of German-speaking inhabitants ever exceed one-third of the population. Any claim that German might have become the main language of Pennsylvania in the 1790s, when over 66 percent of the population spoke English, is simply absurd. Clearly, this is just another sad example of the power of propaganda. Although the outcome is rather insignificant--does it really matter whether a few people believe that this might have actually been true?--it draws a misleading portrait of the Germans and their influence in this world.   But lets leave the idiotic Nazi  world aside: What would it have meant, if the German language was chosen as the official language of the US? What does it mean that India, Australia, and the USA officially speak English?

Unemployment And Its Impact On The Nation s Unemployment...

Unemployment is one of the biggest topics that we talk about as a country and also is one of the biggest problems that we have as well. In essence it is the state of being unemployed. There are three total types of unemployment: frictional, structural and cyclical. The latest unemployment rate reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was 4.9% in January. The way that we measure unemployment is BLS conducts a national survey that is random to a number around 60,000 households. They do this to determine who is employed and who is not employed. The survey asks a series of questions such as which members of the household are working, not working, looking for work, not looking for work, etc. The answers that they receive using these surveys is the number that they use for the nation’s unemployment rate. Sure it seems like a small sample size compared to a whole country doing it, but that would take too much time and not everyone would fill it out. The 2010 Census numbers av eraged out to around 2.58 people per household. So that means they are really getting employment/unemployment information and statistics on about 154,800 people which is a much bigger sample size. Then there is always the variable that there is more people in one household than 2.5 that they send the survey to. The BLS divides the country into three separate groups. The first one is made up of people under 16 years of age and people who are institutionalized (i.e. mental hospitals or correctionalShow MoreRelatedDoes Home Ownership Impair An Individuals Labor Market Outcome?1127 Words   |  5 Pagesindividual s labor market outcome? Some early works suggest that home owners change their locations of residence less often than renters and, thus, home owners are immobile and less flexible. Nickell (1997) found that countries in which citizens are not shackled by the chain of permanent residence (flexible mobility) have relatively high employment rates. 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Example of Db Post Free Essays

Christian Ethics Project #2 1. From a Christian perspective, why did Marxist communism fail? From a Christian point of view, Marxist communism failed due to people not being offered a choice of whether or not to distribute riches to everyone. The author states: â€Å"Beginning in the Garden, God gave men and women the freedom to choose to do what is right. We will write a custom essay sample on Example of Db Post or any similar topic only for you Order Now This is the heart of democracy† (Stapleford, 2009, p. 98). Clearly, it is Godly for people to have freedom of choice; communism was not Godly and therefore, failed. 2. Which is a more Christian form of government, democratic capitalism or democratic socialism? Current history demonstrates that the majority of countries are progressively supporting democratic capitalism along with reduced government involvement (Stapleford, 2009). From a Christian standpoint, Mr. Stapleford writes: â€Å"the individual comes first – before the state or the social order† (Stapleford, 2009, p. 98). He goes on to say, â€Å"Christians are to resist the temptation to use the coercive power of the state to bend society into conformity with our view of the kingdom† (Stapleford, 2009, p. 98). Biblically speaking, we are advised not to be wasteful with what we have, and we should be happy to give freely to those in need. Basic guidelines such as these give biblical confirmation to support democratic capitalism (less government involvement), as opposed to democratic socialism with much more government involvement. 3. What functions does government have to undertake because of fallen human nature? Due to the sin nature of human beings, government has needed to impose taxation on the people in order to implement government spending to help those in need. Government spending to help the needy may include giving food or shelter to the poor, discounted or free child care, health care for our seniors and the poor. Again, Christians are called to help those in need. In this case, the government stepped in to do the same thing that we are commanded to do (Stapleford, 2009). 4. Should Christians concern themselves with the regulatory activities of government? If so, what areas of regulation are most significant? Yes, Christians need to be concerned with the regulatory activities of the government. One of the most significant areas of regulation is the prevention of (and prosecution of) discrimination based on economic status, â€Å"gender, race, ethnicity, or age† (Stapleford, 2009, p. 01). Secondly, a significant area of regulation is defending employees from business owners that may force them to work in harmful conditions or â€Å"would steal from their pension funds† (Stapleford, 2009, p. 101). Additionally, we need to ensure that the government is mindful of its regulation and does not over-regulate, as this would be catastrophic to our democratic society. Works Cited Staplefor d, J. (2009). Bulls, bears and golden calves. (2 ed. ). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. [pic] How to cite Example of Db Post, Papers