Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 47
picked him up at the airport, he was moving in with a roommate who spoke not a word
of Spanish. I made it a point to speak to him only in English and not once did he ask for
mercy. As a result, before the end of his first year he could speak flawless English and
make me sound like the newcomer.
In my experience, programs such as bilingual education are not only a waste of
taxpayer money; they could be a hidden virus set to attack the fiber of our system. The
longer people are kept isolated through inadequate communication skills, the more
possible it becomes to find enemies within, or, in the best of cases, to create a new
class of dependents of the state.
The unfortunate thing is that the bureaucracies already built around the “compassionate
handling” of non-English speakers in America have by now acquired a critical mass with
significant lobbying power to which many politicians pander in the pursuit of office.
These same politicians hope to continue the isolation of their constituencies to ensure
continued re-election. Immigration is of utmost importance to the country, but isolationist
policies as applied to new immigrants are very bad for them and for the rest of us. The
first step in becoming a successful American is to learn the English language. As in
learning to swim, the best way to learn is to jump in the pool and begin swimming; the
best way to learn English is to go to school and begin listening and talking. Although
they wouldn’t be needed if the teachers were good and dedicated, transition classes, as
opposed to completely structured multi-year bi-lingual programs, have, in the past, been
useful and productive. Unfortunately, in Texas, such initiatives were seized by hungry
bureaucrats, union organizers and politicians as harbingers for new power bases and
were soon escalated into growing taxpayer-supported programs.
Independent of special language programs, I see the aggregate effect of the dreams
transformed to reality by the thousands of new immigrants coming to our soil every year
as the practical proof of two of my basic propositions – the American system is a
machine of hope and prosperity and America is the safe-harbor for dreamers the world
over. The effect of these propositions, superimposed onto the social inertia of our lawabiding,
massive, homegrown middleclass provide the anchors for my opening
statement and major thesis – “the genius of America is to provide the environment
where any person can pursue a dream and enjoy the benefits thereof.”
President Reagan began to speak of America not just as a political state but also as a
state of mind capable of spawning the virtues of our social compact among any willing
people. I firmly believe that. With the globalization of information, the abundance of
transportation and instantaneous communications, almost everyone in the world now is
exposed to vignettes of America on a daily basis. Even in Beijing, China, while watching
TV on a Chinese channel, I saw a map of the U.S. and heard the word America on a
daily basis. I have no idea what they were saying, but they were saying something
about us. Anyone with a dream, wherever he may be, understands, perhaps confusedly,
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