MONDAY, OCTOBER 13, 1969
DA CP ? '
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
V To ei?ery thing there is a season in youth, celebrate life
" . l-i: - HnH rnmes before d
' March 21, 1969
Local Board No. 12
8 Bank Street, PeekskiUN.Y.
Dear Sirs:
1 have decided to refuse to register for the
draft, I hope that you will not take this personally,
since this action is in no way meant to condemn
you. I merely hope that it will help you reconsider
some very important questions.
,jNy eighteenth birthday was March 17 and I
am required to register by March 22. Today is
the Jirst full day of spring. I am going to celebrate
life this spring, and refuse to sign your death
warrant.
I believe that the draft is unconstitutional. What
right does the government have to force men to
right against their will? George Washington didn't
need a draft; and Daniel Webster, speaking against
compulsory military service on May 9, 1814, said,
"The question is nothing less than whether the
-most essential rights of personal liberty shall be
surrendered, and despotism embraced in its worst
forms ... Is this, Sir, consistent with t h e
-character of a free government? Is this civil
Mberty? Is this the real character of our constitu
tion? No, Sir, indeed it is not."
I firmly beheve that any draft system which
does not take everyone, is by its very nature
discriminatory,, and therefore unconstitutional and
undemocratic. It is very hard for a person of
limited or no religious belief to get a CO.
classification. Freedom of religion is a constitu
tional right. Men who don't have the money or
the intelligence to get into college are drafted first.
Is this fair? What right do you have to say that
any one group is more valuable than another, and
therefore has more right to live? You have no
right to play God. '
I am conscientiously opposed to serving in any
war as I know it today and am a conscientious
objector to the present Selective Service System
and any conceivable draft system which would
be undemocratic. The very system created to pro
tect our freedom is destroying it from within,
without any help from the outside. Because of
our fear, our freedom is being restricted in order
to defend our freedom. I believe this to be un
necessary. What are we afraid of? The communists? This
is a form of paranoia which is quite prevalent in
this country. If we had the courage to admit that
the other side might be partly right, there would
be more peace m the world. We must try to un
derstand our neighbors, not fight with them un
necessarily. If war were the solution to our problems, we
would have reached utopia long ago. We must be
willing to solve international disputes rationally,
and not yield to mass hysteria.
A Chinese proverb says, "When a might fights,
it shows him up as a fool who has lost the argu
ment." We are making, fools of ourselves in Viet
nam. The world looks down on us for childish be
havior. Ten thousand American men have died since
the Paris talks strated, and many more Vietnamese.
We don't seem to realize that they will never
give up their struggle against us, until the last
American has left their soil.
I am against our military presence in Vietnam,
and the draft as it exists today, partly because
of religious belief. My father is a minister of the
United Church of Christ. I have been brought up
as a Protestant and still believe in God. Based
on this belief in a basic sense of morality and
decency, it would be a crime against my conscience
for for me to register.
i koiiov that r.od comes before country, and
that when a man-made law brings them into con
flict, God must take precedence.
Although, I imagine that I could get a CO.
if I appl'ed for one, I belive that would be unfair
to someone in the ghetto who might want a CO.
but couldn't get one because he wouldn't have
the training to write a good defense or perhaps
would not be well enough informed to know about
this option. . ... : .
It would also be going along with a basically
evil system. It is the system which forces men
to kill against their will in Vietnam. It is the
system which discriminates against the black, the
poor and anyone who dares to speak against the
establishment. Without this system, it would be
much harder to obtain men to kill in war and
for the generals to play their present game.
Finally, I am willing to talk with you about
anything I have said or anything which would
help you better understand my position, but I refuse
to sign. . ,
Sincerely yours
Mark Elliott
:ir h 4.v
H ' tf 17
t
v. i i.;.r
simple statement
My friend, who once was a teach
er in Asia writes in a letter: Here
between the hills and the Hudson
autumn comes in a rage of gold.
I walk in a shower of midas
leaves, and the smell of frost and
I find myself being happy. The
great God I remember. Over
there in a land I love the beauti
ful people are being murdered,
the courteous brown people who
move with the grace of deer, and
speak softly. And I live here, In
the lain! of the murderer.
Evelyn Thorne
TUB MlNMeApOL( HIUNC '.
"How do you like Nixon's 'Game Plan'
for Vietnam?"
Vietnam: now is
the time to get out
The Daily Nebraskan devotes this edition to
the Vietnam war as part of an effort to increase
awareness and concern, whether pro or con, about
the war the most vital and important issue
- of our day.
,, ,,As far as the Dally Nebraskan Is concerned,
we would like to see the United States get out
. of Vietnam now.
'Through the years, many reasons have been
given for the U.S. being in Vietnam: we are fighting
communism; we are helping to develop Southeast
Asia; we are searching for a lasting and honorable
peace for the world; we are supporting the goals
' and aspirations of the 40,000 countrymen who
have died there. Most of the reasons for being
- in Vietnam, while possibly valid at one time, are
untrue today.
Many people realize today that by supporting
' 'jhe dictatorship in Vietnam, we have sacrificed
' much of our own independent tradition. The war
"is a disaster and mistake and has been classified
. ,5Q by a host of national leaders, congressmen,
editors, college presidents, faculty, students,
ministers and business leaders.
Perhaps what is most odd is that in a so-called
democratic society where the majority rules, the
wishes of the majority the will of the people
are not law. In a Gallup Poll taken in late Septem
ber, 58 per cent of those Interviewed said that the
U., made a mistake in sending troops to fight in
Vietnam. In another Gallup Poll last week, 37 per
cent favored passage of Sen. Charles E. Goodecl's
proposal to withdraw all American troops from Viet
nam by the end of 1970. If these percentages are
. representative, why are we itlll there?
,! Probably one ot the mot emotional argument
for staying in Vietnam If to think of what the
40,000 men who have died there would vant us
, to 4o to think of their goals and aspirations.
The death ot these Americans, not to mention the
' hundreds of thousands ot Vietnamese who have
,fft& Is the most tragic part otthe war.
But in a larger sense it is for the living to
stop the war before another 40,000 or even
another one Is killed, The deaths of these men
U the U.S.'s real defeat and tragedy. Their deaths
.fctrt epitomize tha atrocities and horrors I the
war.
1
lyL ill f
JIm
FHTh.TAILV
ftL w N 6 Up
SleeofcjX pull n(kr oiovK
"TAc chocolate in the children's
eyes will never understand
when you're, white boots
marching in the yellow land
from a song by
Phil Ochs
Why, the emperor doesn't have any
uew Vietnam plan at all!"
Sen, Edmund Muskie
Where restraint ends
and censorship begins
No one can tell with certainty what may come
out of the student initiated October 15 Moratorium
In protest against our continued involvement in
Vietnam. To date it has escalated discussion of
the issue, triggered more overt criticism of the
Nixon Administration's actions with respect to
Vietnam and has stimulated a defensive reaction
by the Administration.
Senator Scott, newly elected Senate Minority
Leader, has suggested a 60 day moratorium on
criticism of the Administration on Vietnam. The
President has said he would not be affected by
the October 15 Moratorium.
Some political reporters have observed that
in the process of trying to put down the student
protest proposals, in the reaction to Senator
Goodell's bill for removal of United States forces
from Vietnam, and in the uncertain moves on troop
withdrawals President Nixon has succeeded in
making the Vietnam war "his war." At the very
least he has raised doubts as to whether or not
he is committed to a negotiated settlement as
against a military solution In Vietnam.
President Johnson in his March 31, 1968 speech,
made clear his own commitment to a negotiated
settlement. President Nixon, in his campaign
speeches and in the period preceding and following
his inauguration, implied that he wanted a
negotiated settlement and said he had a "plan"
to end the war.
Now the President is facing rising public con
cern with the war and rising public uneasiness
as to whether or not the Nixon administration
has a plan for ending the war, what its dimensions
are, and what its objectives are. As long as there
are public doubts, questions will be raised.
There should be no moratorium on public
discussion of the Vietnam War and our national
policies with respect to it. No one who is sensitive
to the nature of the Presidency and the difficulty
of negotiating with the Hanoi government and the
National Liberation Front can avoid exercising
restraint so as not to tie the President's hands.
But restraint Is not the same as silence or
censorship.
We ought to be examining In detail the various
proposals for ending the war. I think the (ioodcll
proposal U deserving of consideration. I think
we ought to be exploring the possibilities suggested
by the Clifford proposal for a withdrawal of a"
combat troops by the end of 1970. I would hope
that my own repeated suggestion of a stand-still
ceasefire would be included among these proposals
for ending the war.
We ought to be encouraging constructive
discussions of ways and means of ending the war
In Vietnam in connection with the October 15
Moratorium, not stifling such discussion, if we mean
to encourage respect for democraacy in our own
country as well as overseas.
Th ltdgw- Syndic! In.
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