From Newt Gingrich

What Is Nancy Pelosi Thinking?

Two weeks ago, I wrote to you about how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.) is attempting to appease anti-English extremists in the House by blocking legislation that would protect American employers such as the Salvation Army from being sued by the federal government for requiring that their employees speak English on the job. As I write, Speaker Pelosi is still holding up a bill sponsored by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R.-Tenn.) that would give charities such as the Salvation Army protection from frivolous anti-English lawsuits brought by their own government.

And as if this hostility to our common language weren't enough, now Speaker Pelosi's House has approved a bill that would establish a race-based government in Hawaii that is not subject to the Constitution. What is Speaker Pelosi thinking?

A Race-Based Government in Hawaii? So Much for 'E Pluribus Unum'

Has it somehow escaped Speaker Pelosi and the authors and supporters of this bill that hundreds of thousands of Americans gave their last full measure of devotion in the American Civil War to preserve a nation dedicated to liberty and equality among all men and women, regardless of race?

The Native Hawaiian Government Reorganization Act would not only create a race-based government in Hawaii, but also its racial jurisdiction could extend to include governance over the thousands of native Hawaiians living throughout the United States. State legislatures in all 50 states may potentially be required to accommodate two tiers of sovereignty -- one for native Hawaiians, another for everybody else.

The Senate should reject this misguided bill. If it doesn't, the President should veto it. And all presidential candidates should affirm, by their opposition to this legislation, that America is more than a collection of competing, aggrieved ethnicities.

By their opposition to this bill, all men and women who lead -- or seek to lead -- this nation should affirm that the motto found on the Great Seal of the United States -- "E Pluribus Unum" -- still stands:

Out of Many, One.

Your friend,
Newt Gingrich