The Republican Party managed to expand its Senate majority in the last election, mostly because of the favorable map. Yet it hasn't done much with this new majority. All the legislative energy is on the Left. Even though conservatives love to "dunk on" the Green New Deal, it's ominous that the Left is swinging for the fences with an ambitious program, while conservatives seem to be already assuming defeat is inevitable. 

Yet there's already a major issue that the Republicans are leaving on the table, namely establishing English as the country's official language. A recent poll found that an astounding 77 percent of Americans support this proposal and only 15 percent disagree. 

What's more, the same survey found two-thirds of those polled think voters should have to show a photo ID before being allowed to vote [Support remains strong for English as official language, Rasmussen, March 7, 2019]

Steve King has already introduced an Official English bill in the House. Now, Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma has introduced a bill in the Senate. 

The English Language Unity Act of 2019, S. 678, would establish English as the national language, create an English language rule for naturalization and seek to “avoid misconstructions of the English language text of the laws of the United States.” Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., is co-sponsoring the legislation.

“Just as there is no country without borders, there is no unity without a common language,” Inhofe said in a statement to Gaylord News. “As I work with President Trump to secure our border and build the wall, I wanted to also take steps to move forward to establishing a national language to promote national unity and greater opportunities for immigrant families.”

[Inhofe introduces bill to make English official national language, by Abby Bitterman, Enid News & Eagle, March 7, 2019]

Needless to say, a spokesperson for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund opposes the bill. Andrea Senteno says it is a "false premise" that there is a threat to the English language in the United States. This is the usual leftist tactic of denying that a trend is taking place until it becomes sufficiently strong that it can no longer be publicly opposed. More importantly, it's not true. Americans are already losing working-class jobs because they can't speak Spanish. They are even refused service at certain businesses.

There are plenty of memes about "Cocaine" Mitch McConnell and his supposed mastery of the Senate. Well, what is the Senate Majority Leader doing? What kind of a politician leaves an issue this popular on the table, even though it has the potential to split the Democrats and unite the Republicans? For that matter, why ignore this issue when it would be something that could finally, finally give some energy to President Trump and win back some of those populists who are already looking for alternatives?

Treason and weakness run deep in the Republican Party when GOP leadership can't be roused into action even out of self-interest.