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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear All, </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> I'm reading an
amusing satire titled "Boomsday" by Christopher Buckley. One of its
devices is the following: Faced with a growing national debt and the retirement
of the Boomers, the young people, led by a 29 year old blogger, stage a minor
tax revolution. They don't want to have to pay for the Boomers' retirements! As
a solution, a sympathetic senator proposes a law that offers tax incentives
and other advantages to anyone over 65 who wants to participate in the
Voluntary Transition program. That's an euphemism for killing your self. More
benefits for doing it before age 75. Then there's a lot of funny plot and
all---the author, the son of the late conservative theorist William
Buckley---has written other funny books, too. This book, in my opinion, takes a
few more swipes at conservative positions than at liberal ones, but generally
makes fun of foolishness all over. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT><FONT
face=Arial size=2> I remembered that Moreno had suggested something like
this: On pages 609-12 in Book V of Moreno's 2nd edition (1953)
of <EM>Who Shall Survive?</EM> (you can read these pages by going to
the ASGPP website <A href="http://www.asgpp.org">www.asgpp.org</A> and
clicking on the library, then on this book, and then on the book cover, and
browsing! In it he's suggesting that anyone over 35 (!) off themselves and
that folks avoid any kind of reproductive control---not even the rhythm
method.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> I find this an example of how
Moreno could casually "shoot from the hip" and just think out loud on paper. I
am not aware of his ever having really deliberated on his thinking, discussing
pros and cons. It's also an example in my mind of the way that he was brilliant,
but could also be perhaps very, very mistaken. We should avoid making his
writings into the type of cultural conserve that we rely on or take on
authority. I respect his creativity enough to listen (or read---which isn't
easy, by the way), but not enough to buy into everything he says. In fact, I
find myself noticing questions in my mind or tentative objections on almost
every page.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> On the other
hand---back to the neo-eugenic approach both authors note---while I don't
support the over-35 business, I do think both have cracked the door open to a
social norm that has grown up in the last century. In the olden days we couldn't
keep people alive that much. Now with modern medicine, we can keep babies that
would have died alive, and extend the lives of adults, so that the population of
the world has tripled since Moreno wrote the aforementioned
words!!!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> In our present
crisis, there is an interesting new idea: What if we need to prioritize, ration,
cut back? What if we can't afford to keep alive those who are significant
economic drains? What about the fact that our society has more people in jail
than any other country on earth? And many other examples of problems that
require over a hundred thousand dollars in expenditures to rehabilitate---often
over a million dollars, the way technology is advancing. Just to make "a modest
proposal" (alluding to Swift's satirical piece), to provoke conversation, would
it be taboo to ask whether tax incentives or even saying to some folks, "We'll
give $50,000 to you heirs if you engage in "voluntary transition" ?
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> Ah, the
many sides of life's conundrums. The sign-off motto for the next decade, I
predict. "We can't afford it." </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial
size=2>
Warmly, Adam</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial
size=2>
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Adam Blatner, M.D.<BR> website: <A
href="http://www.blatner.com/adam/">www.blatner.com/adam/</A>
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