It is amazing how many left-wing organizations on the Internet have ignorantly bellowed that President Bush is trying to draft our children and send them off to get shot at.

Of course, these comments are from the same well-informed leftists that claim “Bush was not elected by the American people.”

Hearing this rhetoric from such sources doesn’t surprise me as much as hearing it from a Vietnam War veteran, Mr. Elston (April 23 letter, “Congress quietly reinstating draft”).

According to Elston, President Bush has an “ideology of democracy at the point of a bayonet,” and he likely will do all he can to “keep this under the radar and allow it to take effect with no public debate or scrutiny.”

These claims are backed up by citing H.R. 163 and S. 89? A bill that is being considered which, if approved by the House and Senate, will require our young ones (18-26 years) to give two years of mandatory service to the country.

This is not unlike what Russia was doing when I lived there in 1997-98 — many of my acquaintances had either mandatorily served their two years for the ex-Red Army or were currently serving.

Unfortunately, (and hilariously) for Mr. Elston’s argument, these bills were introduced and championed by Democrats.

Do some homework and check www.congress.gov and www.senate.gov for yourself!

H. R. 163 was introduced on Jan. 7, 2003, by Charles Rangel, D-NY, also representing were Jim McDermott, D-WA, John Conyers, Jr., D-MI, John Lewis, D-GA, Fortney Stark, D-CA, and Neil Abercrombie, D-HI!

Similarly, the Senate bill S. 89 was introduced by Sen. Ernest F. Hollings, D-SC.

So in response to Mr. Elston’s unresearched claims of President Bush’s secretive plans, let me state plainly that by re-electing Republicans, we can ensure that the draft is not reinstated!

Daniel K. Snodgrass

Senior

Computer Engineering