If copyright law is reduced to say, 20 years from the date of creation (PLENTY of time for the author to make money), then it's irrelevant if he dies young or lives until 100.

There we stand in agreement. Current copyright law and how it is governed is horrible.

What most people propose is equally bad and will never get traction with lawmakers.

Returning to what came before makes a ton of sense. Just make it X number of years and let's debate X for a while to get a decent number.