The National Service Act as previously proposed is a plan to reinstate the draft. About which the president-elect has said We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we've set. We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.

Gays in the military, it ain't.

Fortunately, two previous attempts at this have tanked horribly and the third (which came right on the heels of the second) has spent the past year floundering with only a couple of democrats backing it.

If there's ever a time to slip an NSA in under the radar, it's now.

My take? It's one thing to encourage National Service. It's another thing to mandate it - though it's been around in countries such as Germany and what used to be Yugoslavia (among other places) for so long that the concept has become integrated into their respective societies.

Personally, I'm deeply opposed to the idea and I don't think it's necessary. Several people I know enlisted for one of two reasons - they either had fuckall for options or they were up to their ass in (education-related) debt. So they walked into the welcoming arms of Uncle Sam to do some "character building." If there were other options for the economically fucked, then maybe - maybe - some kind of NSP would be viable.

As it stands now, for the people that really need the help, the military is the only game in town. Reinstating conscription (be it filling potholes or digging foxholes) at this point would be a formality - and an insult to those who've made the choice.

The vague summary on the change.gov site that went up shortly after I took the above screenshot is aimed in a different direction, more of an "encouraged community service" direction. All the new administration has to do for the next 75 days is talk a good game.

Talking a good game is easy - you need charisma and pretty words to talk a good game.

Details... not so much.