Does anyone else see where this is going?
I used to think that free maps, free VFR flight-following etc were all really good, too. There has been, how shall I put it, a slight change in philosophy since those days. So if you think the govt. is going to kit out private aircraft with expensive gadgets, you've got another thing coming. They may legislate to make them mandatory, but that will be the end of their 'assistance'.
Now, regards NAS, I am not sure what game AK and AOPA are playing. You seem to be advocating the introduction of a system of airspace you admit is, at the least, less safe than what exists now.
In the next breath it's "it'll all be OK with ADSB, but the govt. has to pay".
If you have been told that by supporting NAS, somebody somewhere will scratch your backs down the road, you have been sold a pup.
If this is an intentional strategy (support NAS part-way, then demand govt funded ADSB), well the less said the better.
What happens in the time gap between the intro of NAS and this ADSB utopia?
What happens when the RPT pilots refuse to fly without DTI?
What happens when their companies ( and their insurers ) can it?
What happens when Dick becomes the minister's scapegoat? How upset will he be?
How long before the deckchairs get shuffled at the Alan Woods Titanic?
Groundhog day.