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Rob Lockwood’s recent Washington Post op-ed makes a blunt, patriotic case: as the nation approaches its 250th birthday, the United States should formally call its language “American” instead of “English.” The piece, penned by a former adviser to Doug Burgum, argues this change would be a symbolic break from colonial hangovers and a lasting statement of American independence.
Lockwood didn’t hide from the political implications, urging President Trump and Congress to act and even discussing the idea on national television, where he pressed the point that language is a core part of national identity. His appearance and the op-ed together pushed the conversation from academic quibbling into the realm of real policy debate, forcing patriots to ask whether we’ll stand for symbols or bow to tired old labels.
The op-ed notes that the president already took a shot at securing linguistic unity with an executive order last year designating English as the official language, but Lockwood says that half measures won’t do for a semiquincentennial. If we’re serious about sovereignty and cultural cohesion, renaming the tongue to “American” would be a signal that the United States answers to no crown and celebrates its own evolution.
Left-wing elites will sneer and the usual media meritocrats will call this petty symbolism, but conservatives should see the proposal for what it is: a chance to reassert national pride and common purpose. The battle over words is never only about words; it’s about who defines the nation’s story and whether ordinary Americans get to decide what their country stands for.
Practical objections about dictionaries and school curricula are dodgeable and cheap when balanced against the long-term value of a unified civic identity. Naming the language “American” would encourage assimilation on American terms and push back against the fragmented, identity-first culture the left has been selling for decades. This is not xenophobia; it is patriotism—the understanding that a shared language and set of civic norms bind a republic together.
Congress should seize this moment and put patriotism into law rather than leaving it to cultural commentators and campus activists. Lawmakers who love this country can draft straightforward, limited legislation that affirms what millions of citizens already call their tongue and gives schools and courts clear guidance without trampling individual liberties.
If conservatives meekly allow this debate to be dismissed as trivia, the cultural rot will simply continue, and symbols that once unified us will be replaced by a thousand niche identities. The American people deserve leaders who will defend the ideas and institutions that made this nation exceptional, and a simple, declarative rename would be a small but meaningful victory in that fight.
Now is the time for patriots to speak up, write to their representatives, and demand that the semiquincentennial be more than fireworks and speeches. Let Washington know that we will not apologize for claiming the language of our country as proudly American.
