I thought we lived in a 235-year old most successful nation on earth, not an experiment

Citizen U.S.A. The Reality

- Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh
Thursday, July 7, 2011

My American citizenship was an arduous journey, years in the making. It took mountains of paperwork on both sides of the Atlantic. Papers had to be translated from and into English, notarized, fiscally stamped, taxed, and approved. Appointments had to be made with various officials and officers of the law.

Security Police interrogations and screenings were performed. Were you ever a Communist, how much debt did you have, did you have a savings account, did you have a job, who was going to support you, who was going to pay my medical bills, did I speak English, did I pass the American Government test, was I literate, and who was the president. And the questions never stopped until the American government was sure that I would not be a burden on the American taxpayers and would be a contributing citizen to this wonderful republic.

Things have changed dramatically. Now prospective and future American citizens come to hearings with their translators in tow. The American government has to provide them with translations in Spanish of any piece of paper they have to fill out.

If foreign nationals come to court, although some of them have lived in the U.S. for 23 years and speak English, they prefer to give testimony in Spanish, out of respect for their first language. What about the respect for those present in the courtroom who conduct business in the language of the land, English?

Voting rolls are translated into Spanish and school curricula are provided in two languages, at great expense to the taxpayer. Hospitals must provide translators to illegal aliens who flock to the emergency rooms as if they are doctors’ offices. Companies display every sign in their stores both in English and Spanish and phone calls are answered only after pressing one for English.

The ceremony of becoming a citizen is a sacred one – one swears allegiance to America, to the republic and everything it stands for. You swear to honor and preserve its culture, its symbols, its flag, and its national anthem. You do not have the right to wave and display the flag of your former country in the face of Americans while telling them that America will soon be yours because it was stolen from you.

I am not sure that borders of any country in the world have been adjudicated by entirely peaceful means; usually borders were carved out after a conflict, armistice, as a purchase, or other forms of forced distribution.

Washington Post writes in a recent column about “Citizen U.S.A.,â€