According to Bill Moyers and David Brancaccio on "NOW," the commendable PBS program that runs every Friday night here, the Bush Administration has a seeming obsession with secrecy at every level including, of course, the torture memos that Attorney General John Ashcroft refuses to release to the Congress while refusing to cite available legal authority for such refusal. "NOW" reported on June 11 that the numbers of American dead and wounded from the Middle East could be in the thousands; no one is saying anything. Many folks, especially Vietnam veterans, blame the press coverage for the "loss" of Vietnam, effectively applying the "sine qua non" rule that but for the press coverage, the US would have "won" (what would be "won" is not detailed) in Vietnam.

How anyone can support the resumption of a combat draft absent a congressional declaration of war is a mystery to me. I am appalled that no one in politics, INCLUDING JOHN KERRY, is discussing this matter, and no journalists seem to have inquired of either Kerry or Bush their take on the "elephant in the living room," to-wit: the missing congressional declaration of war that might otherwise legitimize a draft.

I do agree with Charles Rangel's complaints that the Vietnam draft was unfair to low-income folks, especially minorities. However, despite the inherent fairness of his proposals for a more universal draft, we cannot allow any president the unfettered power to impose an involuntary combat draft of uncertain duration on our younger people absent specifically addressing the necessary legitimizing predicate of a congressional declaration of war.

This is a very serious issue. It is incumbent upon all persons who remember the multiple idiocies of the Vietnam "war" to speak out forcefully against any politician, INCLUDING JOHN KERRY, who so far has miserably failed to honestly address these issues. Kerry has been silent on most of this issue's debate, and that is troubling. One gets the sense he is hedging his own bets on executive power for his own imperial presidency-to-be.

Voters need to remember the truth of Vietnam and John Kerry’s deplorable voting record as a US senator. No one should plan to vote for John Kerry unless he:

(1) apologizes for voting for the Patriot Act and swears his intention to work for total repeal of same; and

(2) apologizes for giving the Executive Branch an unconstitutional blank check to wage undeclared war and swears his intention to work for total revocation of same; and

(3) swears that he will not institute a combat draft for any purposes whatsoever absent a congressional declaration of war as is SOLELY authorized under Article I of the Constitution.

For me, these are deal-breaking issues. I want to vote George W. Bush and all his thugs out of office, most especially Dick Cheney and John Ashcroft. But I will not give John Kerry a pass on these issues since he may be no better than the incumbent thereon. Our Constitution and Bill of Rights are too precious to ignore.

© Copyright H. Watkins Ellerson

H. Watkins Ellerson
Attorney at Law
PO Box 90
Hadensville, VA 23067

Wat Ellerson has  been a general-practice Va. lawyer for almost 31 years and a licensed auctioneer since 1995.  He was chairman of the Orange County, Va. Democratic Committee from 1978-82 and defacto chairman for another 6 or 7 years thereafter since my successor was beset by serious health problems of his own and his wife.  He resigned from the Democratic Party the end of 1995 as he could not support Bill Clinton for re-election (having almost nothing to do with Monica Lewinsky and everything to do with his disrespect for the Bill of Rights).