I had just returned from doing my citizen-bit in an early voting booth at the Barbara Bush Library in Houston. Unlike the last time I had voted, there was no nearly-a-mile long (only a slight exaggeration) line of folks waiting their turns at the new-fangled computerized voting machines.

And this time, thank the Lord; there was not a multitude of foreign language signs shrieking from almost every inch of the library’s exterior walls. But on the voting machines themselves, the first words to greet my shocked all American eyes, were “Choose a language.” I was given the choice of Vietnamese, Spanish or English.

My reaction? Bring back the poll tax! Bring back the literacy for voters’ tests in English. Bring back the belief that if one is to be an American citizen, one must speak American and read American. Bring back the belief that one must put America first above all other nations-- first in one’s heart, first in one’s mind, first in one’s loyalty and, definitely, first on one’s tongue.

How can a citizen understand and value America’s past, if he is unable to read and speak English? Do you really believe that American history will be taught, in veritas, in the Arabic tongue, or in the Latino language? American truths are unlikely to be told in other languages. (Which reminds me of the movement in Texas schools to teach the Mexican version of the fight for the Alamo. What next? The Russian version of how they and they, alone, won World War II?)

How can anyone become assimilated, if the “based on English” understanding and appreciation of American history does not occur?

We have been pushed down the path to national destruction as we swallowed the all-pervasive propaganda that diversity must be worshipped and assimilation scorned. Have we been so forced-fed, so conditioned we truly believe that people who cling, unyieldingly, to their heritage as citizens of other lands and refuse to become Americanized, are people worthy of U.S. citizenship? Is this conditioning the reason our President and other leading American liberals are so anxious to erase our national borders and lead us into One World Government via the United Nations?

About civil liberties, I say in Rhett Butler’s verbiage, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” about civil liberties, if the American Civil Liberties Union means for me to turn my land over to folks whose ancestors never wept a tear, or shed a drop of blood to make the U.S. free. Am I the only living American who believes that folks do not have now, have never had and will never have the moral right to vote in anything but English in a land civilized by English speaking Americans? Those folks in Viet Nam, Central America , Mexico, and South America did not have a thing to do with freeing my land from the taxation policies of a British King, None of them fought by the side of my ancestors in that first American war for Independence.

Some of them did fight in later wars for the U.S., so they and their descendants do have the same civil rights as the rest of us…but, only if they speaka da English, believe you me.

As for all of the Johnny Come Latelys, must we all sit around and twiddle our thumbs until they decide the ballots must, also, be written written in Arabic, Koalib, Talodi, Sinhalese, Tegali, Tumtum, Mande, Gur, Kwa, Benue-Congo, etc., ad finitum, ad nauseam?

How long must I wait before my America, gets some rulers with sense and sensibility? How long must I wait before other Americans become as incensed as I am with politicians pandering to non-English speaking immigrants?

How long must I wait for Americans to wake up, smell dank darkness in the land and decide to turn on the light, open a window and let in some fresh air?

How long must I await for Americans to realize that a national language spoken by all citizens is the glue that holds a nation together?

While at the polls, I have yet to see a Muslim woman there. Somehow I’ve missed that sight. I would so like to know if she covers her face and hair while at the polls. That is a mystery to me. Who can solve it? I see them, faces hidden, driving cars on Houston’s street. I’ve seen the black veiled females attempting to get a driver’s license unsuccessfully until they exposed their faces and part of their hair, but I have “not an inkling” as to their required poll behavior.

Those Japanese have the right idea. In order to become a citizen in their land, one must dress Japanese, talk and read Japanese, act Japanese and, by gum, by golly, have a refrigerator full of Japanese food….so, must “eat” Japanese. I’d venture to guess that there aren’t any Sinhalese parades in Japan.

If so many folks have the “I’ll die if I don’t get there” desire to become American citizens, surely they will feel that extensive language lessons are warranted as a pre-requisite for U.S. voting rights. Surely they will see that their children need Immersion in English lessons in American schools, rather than “bilingual education.”

Maybe it is time for us to decide that folks can live here, yet not meet the requirements necessary for voting, serving on juries, and holding full citizenship. It is, also, time for us to take a closer look at immigration laws. Just because a female crawls across the border and delivers a child should not make that child an American citizen and give him/her the right to bring over his entire tribe.

It is past time to call a moratorium on immigration until we regain the balance of ethnic population present when this nation was created---until we assimilate the millions imported in the last few decades.