I first became a Christopher Buckley fan in 1995, when I read Thank You For Smoking. Mr. Buckley is a satirist of the first order, and usually turns his eye to Washington politics (his father is William F. Buckley). I recently picked up a copy of Mr. Buckley's most recent novel, Boomsday, which focuses on the coming entitlement crisis. The main character, Cassandra Devine, is a blogger(!) who suggests legislation encouraging Baby Boomers (also referred to here as "The Ungreatest Generation") to take part in "voluntary transitioning" (i.e. suicide). What's in it for the Boomers?
[Ms. Devine's mentor, Terry Tucker:] "You offer people tax breaks. To kill themselves. At age seventy."
[Ms. Devine:]"More if they Transition at sixty-five. Yes, a package of incentives. Free medical. Drugs -- all the drugs you want. Boomers love that kind of pork. The big one is no estate tax. Why leave it to Uncle Sam when you can leave it to the kids? That'll get the kids on board. Terry, listen to me. I ran the numbers. By my calculations, if only twenty percent of seventy-seven million Baby Boomers go for it, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid will be solvent. End of crisis. Tell me that's not worth debating."
