Why would an American not get a passport? That doesn't make any sense. But to your larger point about nations speaking other languages on the doorstep of the U

Why would an American not get a passport? That doesn't make any sense. But to your larger point about nations speaking other languages on the doorstep of the U.S. -> keep in mind that "on your doorstep (aside from Mexico and Quebec) means a 6 hour flight to South America. Largely depends on where you are, and you'll see in the American SouthWest they do speak a lot more Spanish, but it's not like in Europe where I can live in Germany, drive to France, circle around through Italy, then through a myriad of other countries (all speaking other languages) in a relatively quick amount of time. The U.S. is fundamentally different that Europe and I think people should just chill out about the language thing.