The Automatic

"Automatic" is a word. Let me tell you what it does.

It means: the decision was made. The form was submitted. The agreement was reached. You were not present. Your presence was not required. "Automatic" is how you say "we already did this" without saying that.

Selective Service announced that registration for the draft will be automatic starting in December. Every American male between eighteen and twenty-six will be enrolled. The form will be submitted on their behalf. The announcement called this "streamlining the registration process."

You know this word. Your free trial converted automatically. Your gym charges you automatically on the first of the month. Your phone updated automatically. Every software product you have used in the last fifteen years had an automatic somewhere in it. The automatic is always on your behalf. The automatic never asks. It decided asking was slowing things down.

(The Selective Service has been asking since 1917. They asked for 109 years. They have decided to stop asking.)

The memo says "streamlining the registration process." That is what "automatic" becomes in a government document. Streamlining.

The draft is not a subscription. But someone who works in the government saw a word that does consent's job without collecting consent. They recognized the efficiency. They brought it home.

They did not mention where they found it.