Should the government decide that you've lived long enough?

William Saletan says yes.

ADDED: I thought we'd committed to the belief that age discrimination is wrong. How could we backtrack on that?

Young people want to believe they will live to be very old, so even they would balk at telling old people they can't have the heart surgery they need.

Imagine the human interest stories there would be about beloved great grandparents who only need a simple pacemaker but whom the government has slated to die.

Saletan's idea is emotionally and politically obtuse.