As a native SW Ohioan, I've been following our two local House races: Driehaus (D) vs. Chabot (R-Inc.) in OH-01 and Wulsin (D) vs. Schmidt (R-Inc.) in OH-02.
I was fairly convinced that both the Dems were safe bets until I saw a Driehaus ad tonight that claimed, right at the end, "Steve Driehaus supports English as the official language."
And I thought "whaaaat??!?"
It turns out that what he supports is the idea of making English the official, and, thus, only, language acceptable for use in governmental offices and work in Ohio (not mentioned on his Issues page, though). I assume, that if he is elected to the House of Representatives, he would support a similar movement at the national level.
What kind of xenophobic redneck doofus is so afraid of "fereners" that we need to make it that much harder for honest immigrants and visitors who may not speak English to work with our government?
I can easily think of a dozen different scenarios where it is in EVERYBODY'S interest to permit governmental work to be performed in languages other than English. I'm sure you, dear reader, can as well.
Plus, it turns out that Driehaus is staunchly pro-life, which, given my personal goal of Cincinnati eventually becoming a (moderately) progressive city (I'm a realist), greatly disappoints me. In fact, given these positions, he's not too different from Chabot -- no wonder the race is so close.
Anyway, I'd love to hear your comments about the language issue. Is there some significant benefit to mandating an official language, or is it what I perceive...a sneaky attempt to hang a "immigrants not welcome" sign on our country's front door?
I'd also like to hear your comments about why Driehaus is a better choice than Chabot BEYOND party membership (if that's all you've got, then I'm not sure I'd vote for either).