Commentary on X
@traestephens "uNConStITutioNaL" Huge tell that you're a person not worth following. Yes, let's dismiss concerns about the degradation of the rule of law. I'm sure that's totally without risk or disastrous precedent. You utter fuckwit.
8:48 PM · Jul 14, 2026@traestephens 100%. I have been arguing for it for a while. Mandatory civil service after high school. Builds social cohesion and a shared national identity.
8:13 PM · Jul 14, 2026@MachinistMStrem @traestephens Yes, short-term slavery is totally cool!
6:00 PM · Jul 14, 2026@traestephens Love it, and have for a while
9:02 PM · Jul 14, 2026View all
I’ve been arguing for over a decade that mandatory civil service would make America stronger. The typical response was that it would just be an obstacle between people and their goals…or that it’s uNConStITutioNaL and that we’d rather have violent tribalwarfare between the purple hair baristas and the incels. Now that widespread job loss driven by AI looms, the idea has become a lot more palatable. Go check out the argument @PirateWires. Come at me, bro.
12:51 PM · Jul 14, 2026The amount of cope from the libertarian right about this being "slavery" is hilarious to me. They are effectively making the same argument as people saying that you can't FORCE people to not set up tent camps on my sidewalk and commit suicide via fentanyl overdose in front of my kids. This is not good or loving for our country, the individuals impacted, or society in general. Absolute freedom is a moral choice with downsides as well. Being so absolutist is being disconnected from reality.
5:23 PM · Jul 14, 2026