PAA – do me a favor. Don’t use rationalist judaism as a source. I don’t trust him for beans. If he told me the sky is blue I wouldn’t believe him.
Quote, “It doesn’t have to uproot any opinions. It just makes the Rambam an invalid proof because how can you say that all 66,000 people fall into that category.”
Your statement is based on how you are interpreting the Rambam’s words. Obviously, others interpret differently and based on their interpretation there is no question. Regardless, if one excepts as fact that the government is using the army now for shmad, the rules have changed.
BTW – I happen to know prominent Hesder Rabbanim that agree that the rules have changed.