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If one were only to listen to their howls of protest, one would think that Sen. Steve King's bill, S.F.165, which was passed by a House vote of 56-42, came out of the blue, with no input from state residents.

If one looks for the truth, however, he or she will find that majorities of Iowans have long wanted English as the state's official language. Poll after poll over the years, including one by U.S. ENGLISH five years ago, have showed this to be true. In fact, a poll by the Des Moines Register released at the beginning of 2002 showed that 81 percent of those polled were in favor of such a law, and just last month a poll by local TV station WHO revealed 92 percent of those polled supported it.

Politicians shouldn't fear veiled threats from a vocal minority who say their voices 'would be heard' at the polls in November. Majorities of Iowans have long called for a common sense official English law for their state, and also will be at the polls in November to thank their political leaders.

To say that this common sense legislation will stop immigrants from coming to Iowa is irresponsible, reckless and ridiculous - not to mention, flat out wrong. Immigration to the United States is at an all time high. According to Census 2000 data, there are 28.4 million foreign-born residents living in America today, or 10.4 percent of the total U.S. population, which is up from 7.9 percent in 1990. In fact, the Census 2000 Profile of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States report says that the rapid increase in the foreign-born population from 9.6 million in 1970 to 14.1 million in 1980, and from 19.8 million in 1990 to 28.4 million in 2000 'reflects the high level of international migration during the past generation.'

Opponents who make shrill accusations saying official English would deter immigrants from migrating to Iowa should be embarrassed and ashamed. There are currently 26 states with official English laws on the books and the rates of immigration to them have not slowed. South Carolina, for example, enacted its official English law in 1987, and has experienced a 300 percent growth of its Hispanic population since 1990. Similarly, California, Florida and Hawaii all have official English laws and are all states, that according to the 2000 Census, that house 10.4 percent more of the foreign-born population than the national average.

Now, what does that say about official English laws? It tells me, and many others across this great nation of ours, that multilingualism in government is a wolf in sheep's clothing - it is more segregative than it is tolerant, and builds walls between those who speak English and those who do not. It does immigrants no favors, despite its attractive packaging.

The United States is an English-speaking country, with some 97 percent of residents understanding our shared language. What do these critics of official English think - that if you come to America for a better life you won't be expected to speak the common language, especially if you want to succeed and be accepted by others? Are we as Americans somehow 'bad' because we expect newcomers to integrate by sharing our common language?

The Iowa English Language Reaffirmation Act is very simply a victory for all Iowans. Gov. Tom Vilsack would greatly hurt the people of Iowa if he chose to veto this bold legislation. We hope the Governor realizes that the road to success in the United States begins by learning English, and that he seize upon the opportunity now before him that would, over time, empower all of Iowa's citizens.

U.S.ENGLISH is the nation's oldest and largest citizens' action group dedicated to preserving the unifying role of the English language in the United States. Founded in 1983 by the late Sen. S.I. Hayakawa of California, U.S.ENGLISH now has more than 1.5 million members nationwide, and some 20,000 in the State of Iowa.