There’s a famous story (unfortunately apocryphal) about Dan Quayle visiting Latin America and wishing he had taken Latin in high school so he could speak the language. But that little bit of mythical stupidity has been playing out in Vermont, where the suggestion of creating a state motto in Latin brought xenophobic dumbasses out of the woodwork:

Last spring, Senate Minority Leader Joe Benning got a letter from an eighth-grader at The Riverside School in Lyndonville. She was studying Latin, and wanted Senator Joe to introduce a bill to give Vermont a Latin motto. We’ve got “Freedom and Unity,” but no Latin. As the idea developed, those involved came up with a motto: Stella quarta decima fulgeat. The translation: “May the Fourteenth Star Shine Bright,” is a nod to Vermont’s status as the fourteenth state to join the union. Nice. Poetic in both languages. Benning brought the student to Montpelier and introduced her to the Government Operations Committee, which would consider her proposal.

And what happened when a news station reported about it on their Facebook page? Warning: This may make you want to get the fuck off this planet.

Dorothy Lynn Lepisto: “I thought Vermont was American not Latin? Does any Latin places have American mottos?” Norman Flanders: “What next Arab motto??” Kevin P. Hahn: “How about ‘go back south of the boarder’” Richard Mason: “We are AMERICANS, not latins, why not come up with a Vermont motto that is actually from us” Judy Lamoureux: “Throw him out of the country tell him to take obama with him!” Phil Salzano: “My question is, are we Latin, or are we Vermonters? Alright then, English it is…..” Lori Olds: “I thought this was USA why are they trying to make Americans aliens” Chris Ferro: “That’s a BIG NO, if you live in the United State YOU need to learn ENGLISH!!” Julie Kellner: “No, you a USA citizen!.. Learn & understand the language!!!.” Kurtis Jones: “No cause vt ain’t no Latino area. Leave the motto alone” Zeb Swierczynski: “ABSOLUTLY NOT!!!! sick and tired of that crap, they have their own countries” Ken Curtis: “Just when I felt our represenatives could not possibly get any dumber , they come up with this…get real… this is the USA, not some Moslim or Mexican country…stop given in to these people…PRESS 1 for English and forget the rest… worry about the problems you were elected to do” Ronald Prouty Jr. “No way this is America not Mexico or Latin America. And they nee to learn our language, just like if we go there they want us to speak theirs” Kristen Wright: “thats un called for this is the usa” Kelley Dawley: “How do you say idiotic senator in spanish? I’d settle for deport illegals in spanish as a back up motto” Heather Chase: “Seriously?? Last time I checked..real vermonters were speakin ENGLISH.. NOT LATIN..good god…”

These morons vote. And breed. Sleep tight.