Skip to main content
Tags: roosevelt
OPINION

Today's Political Division May Have Been Predicted a Century Ago

Today's Political Division May Have Been Predicted a Century Ago

November 1906 file photo:Then-U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt (C) at the Culebra Cut of the Panama Canal. (AFP Photo/U.S. Library of Congress Files via Getty Images)

Michael Dorstewitz By Monday, 21 July 2025 10:04 AM EDT Current | Bio | Archive

Last week the Department of Justice took the first step in an effort to unite the country in a single identity — an identity cherished by people the world over — as Americans.

"As President Trump has made clear, English is the official language of the United States," Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement.

"The Department of Justice will lead the effort to codify the President's Executive Order and eliminate wasteful virtue-signaling policies across government agencies to promote assimilation over division."

Included in the "Immediate Compliance Actions" in the DOJ's guidance document is that the department will "complete a full internal inventory of all existing non-English services, and release department-wide plans to phase out unnecessary multilingual offerings."

The order also appears to rescind a Clinton administration order released in 2000 that directed agencies to increase accessibility for workers not proficient in English.

Learning the language is the first step to assimilation — a word that has recently become dirty to Democrats who claim that "our strength is in our diversity our differences," and that claim showed up in some of the commentary to the new executive order.

While many looked forward to not having to "press '1' for English," others called it xenophobic — a fear or contempt of anything foreign. Others believed proficiency in more than one language was a plus, and it is — so long as one of them is English.

In truth diversity has only divided and weakened the United States — even at the congressional level.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat and a member of the so-called "squad," displays the Palestinian flag outside her Washington, D.C. office. There’s not a U.S. flag to be found there, however.

Another Democratic squad member, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, was offered asylum from Somalia by the United States when she was young. Today she’s often critical of the country that gave her and her family refuge, while claiming allegiance to the country she left.

Diversity has also produced two large-city Democratic mayoral nominees that are wholly un-American.

New York’s Zohran Mamdani and Minneapolis’ Omar Fateh both won their Democratic primary by running as Democratic-Socialists.

They’re anti-free market, anti-capitalist, and anti-private property ownership.

Not only are they anti-American, but so are their voters.

Theodore Roosevelt considered this nonsense in a letter he wrote in 1919, when large numbers of refugees came to America at the close of the first world war.

While he believed it was "an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin," he added that "this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American."

He believed immigrants should have no divided loyalties between the United States and their country of origin.

Then he got down to specifics: "We have room for but one flag, the American flag . . . We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language . . . and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

We also have room for but one economic system, and that’s capitalism, which is responsible for raising more people out of poverty than any other system.

Socialism has failed the people everywhere it’s been tried.

Maybe we could make civics and American history required high school subjects again, and while we’re at it throw in an introductory economics course.

But it all begins with a common language — a means of communication that everyone understands.

As we were instructed a century ago, a common language is the first step to uniting us as a country, and as a people.

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and is a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He's also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and a Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.

© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


MichaelDorstewitz
Learning the language is the first step to assimilation, a word that has recently become dirty to Democrats who claim that "our strength is in our diversity our differences," and that claim showed up in some of the commentary to the new executive order.
roosevelt
642
2025-04-21
Monday, 21 July 2025 10:04 AM
Newsmax Media, Inc.

Sign up for Newsmax’s Daily Newsletter

Receive breaking news and original analysis - sent right to your inbox.

(Optional for Local News)
Privacy: We never share your email address.
Join the Newsmax Community
Read and Post Comments
Please review Community Guidelines before posting a comment.
 
TOP

Interest-Based Advertising | Do not sell or share my personal information

Newsmax, Moneynews, Newsmax Health, and Independent. American. are registered trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc. Newsmax TV, and Newsmax World are trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc.

NEWSMAX.COM
America's News Page
© Newsmax Media, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Download the Newsmax App
NEWSMAX.COM
America's News Page
© Newsmax Media, Inc.
All Rights Reserved