In 1729 Jonathan Swift shocked the people of Ireland by releasing perhaps the most bizarre writing of all time. Titled A Modest Proposal, the short satire piece addresses Irelands’ extremely high child poverty rate by offering a rather obscure solution, Cannabilism. Thats correct, the author proposed eating children as means of population control.  Even given the knowledge that it was composed nearly three hundred years ago, the proposal still comes off as quite malicious.  The author was, however, successful in drawing attention to an issue which believe it or not, continues to plague one of the world’s most powerful nations.   Despite being centuries old I argue that the issue of child poverty in Swifts’ A Modest Proposal, still holds relevance today within the  modern United States of America. In light of recent sources it becomes clear that Swifts’ analyzation of child poverty in Ireland alines shockingly with the United States current epidemic.  Equally so, Swifts proposal complicates the issue by exposing a deeper, possibly detrimental flaw within the united states economy. While Canibalism is certainly not the answer, I hope to prove that the American people must too seek a solution, or risk the downfall foreshadowed by Swifts’ description of Ireland.

In summary, Johnathan Swifts A Modest Proposal offers resolve to child poverty in Ireland by suggesting that a percentage of poor children be sacrificed as food. Being satire, the solution itself clearly holds no valor. The issue at hand however could not be more relevant to both Ireland at the time, and the United States today. Struck by potato famine in the early 17th century, Irish citizens saw what would prove to be the toughest period in national history. Poverty ravashed the nation, growing to a degree at which it could no longer be ignored. Swift helps us to visualize this catastrophe by exposing the issue early within his article. “It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags and importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers, instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are forced to employ all their time in strolling to beg sustenance for their helpless infants” (Swift). Swift successfully exposes the problem at hand in this opening stanza by helping readers to imagine a world in which  child poverty is visible even when simply walking the streets; beggars crowd every conner harassing those passing with hope of spare change.  

Some may wonder how this description of Ireland at near rock bottom could possibly compare to the United States. After all, America is the greatest country on earth, right?  The truth however lies in Jeffrey D. Sachs’ article, High US Child Poverty: Explanations and Solutions, which attempts to expose the often overlooked issue of child poverty within the united states by presenting numerical data. Sach begins by stating the obvious, the United States is among the richest countries on the globe; this claim however is accompanied by a far less patriotic statistic. The Author states, “among the thirty four Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, the United States is one of the richest countries but also one of the countries with the highest rates of child poverty. According to the OECD measure of poverty, around 21% of US children aged 0 to 17 are in poor households, compared to an average of only around 14% of children across all OECD member countries with data” (Sach 1). Shocking, isn't it? Despite enormous economic achievement America still suffers from child poverty on a scale similar to that of Ireland during the infamous potato famine.  In fact, Ireland has completely overtaken us in this regard with a 2012 child poverty rate of only 8.7 percent compared to the states staggering 21 percent. The United States of America continue to identify as a world super power despite the fact that one in five of her children struggle below the poverty line. Clearly the issue Swift attempts to address still effects us today in even the richest of nations.

After author Johnanthan Swift addresses the issue of child poverty in Ireland, he goes on  to explain the necessity for a solution, claiming that child poverty could prove dangerous to the nation as a whole. “I think it is agreed by all parties that this prodigious number of children in the arms, or on the backs, or at the heels of their mothers, and frequently of their fathers, is in the present deplorable state of the kingdom a very great additional grievance; and, therefore, whoever could find out a fair, cheap, and easy method of making these children sound, useful members of the commonwealth, would deserve so well of the public as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the nation” (Swift)  By referring to anyone with a potential solution as the 

“preserver of the nation” Swift implies that the problem, if left unresolved, would prove detrimental to Ireland. This complicates the issue at hand, leading readers to wonder how drastically the United States child poverty epidemic will effect the overall wellbeing of the country. After all, if Irelands’ high child poverty rate correlated with perhaps the worst period in national history, what does that foreshadow for the United States? Will we too fall victim to failed economics and overall poverty? To answer this question, author Timothy Smeeding composed the article Addressing Child Poverty: How Does the United States Compare With Other Nations in which he reaches the same conclusion as Sachs; America is far behind the rest of the world in regard to child poverty. Smeeding however takes the argument one step further, explaining how such an epidemic sets the children of America, our future leaders, up for eventual failure.  “Child poverty can have long-lasting consequences on future lives. As poor children grow up, initial inequities often manifest themselves in poor health and learning outcomes and low employment rates in adulthood. There are systematic and significant differences in the academic achievement of children from disadvantaged backgrounds compared with mainstream children in many countries, but the gap is the largest in the United States” (Smeeding 2-3). This argument further pushes the necessity for a solution within the united states by analyzing the obvious negatives of child poverty. American children are being starved of proper food, shelter, and most importantly education. The perhaps most visible example of this lies in the nations’ getthos; overflowing with poor families who's children are forced to turn toward the streets for survival. Even those lucky enough to have quality school systems are likely snatched by the streets.  This sinister pattern only persists, leaving children struck by poverty at birth unable to escape.  This fact should alone ignite urgency within the American people. Children are quite literally the future of a country, to neglect them sets the nation as a whole on a path to failure.

Given the knowledge that change is necessary for the overall betterment of America, the next logical step is to seek resolve. While author Johnathon Swifts’ proposal of eating poor children certainly will not make it to the presidents desk, the true solution may require an equal amount of rethinking in regard to traditional values. To correct an issue one must first identify its’ causation; using Swifts time period as a reference point, it becomes clear that one common factor between modern America and 17th century Ireland is an inefficient distribution of wealth amoung social classes.  Authors Thomas Hertz and Tracey Farrigan decided to investigate this correlation in their recent article, Understanding the Rise in rural child poverty, 2003-2014. The duo studied distribution of wealth between social classes over an eleven year span in an attempt to link the factor with increasing child poverty rates. They discovered the following; “The rise in rural child poverty is partly due to the fact that average incomes for rural families with children did not rise during the economic expansion of 2003-07, and fell during the recession and the early years of the recovery… The effects of declining average income explain an estimated 35 percent of the rise in rural child poverty and 25 percent of the rise in urban child poverty” (Hertz/Farrigan 1). The fact that lower class families are not seeing the benefits of American economic expansion yet fall victim to recession, simply proves that wealth is being unfairly distributed within the United States. In a perfect economy, all classes will find better life in response to a nations economic success, and must suffer accordingly in times of despair. This however is clearly not the case within the Untied States. If rural American families fail to uptain increased income while the rest of the nation thrives, their children will remain trapped in poverty. On the flip side, those only slightly above the poverty line will slip below during times of recession, yet are unable to escape once the economy bounces back. By this logic, the child poverty rate in America will only continue to grow worse. The only solution would be to follow in Europes footsteps by strengthening the United States Social tax programs, thus redistributing income to the poor. This concept is far from revolutionary, in fact most leading countries have been utilizing the strategy for years to combat poverty as mentioned by Jeffery Sach. “In Germany, for example, which spends a hefty 25.4% of GDP on social outlays, the pretax poverty rate is around 31.4%, while the net-of-tax poverty rate is just 8.4% In the United States, by contrast, social outlays are only 18.7% of GDP, the pretax poverty rate of 29.2 declines only modestly to 17.9% after taxes and transfers. The essential and simple point is that tax-financed social outlays are enormously powerful in cutting both income inequality and poverty. The main reason that the United States has relatively high poverty rates and high inequality of income is that the social welfare system is much smaller than in the high-income countries of Europe” (Sach).  These findings clearly illustrate the States’ minuscule social welfare system as the culprit behind child poverty. Despite this, American citizens remain opposed to any form of tax increases. To truly alleviate child poverty in America her people must realize that sacrifice is required; increased taxes are rough but at least this sacrifice doesn't involve easting children. All joking aside, the facts speak for themselves and history tends to repeat herself. If American citizens are unwilling to accept higher tax rates in exchange for smoother wealth distribution, child poverty rates will only continue to rise. Subsequently, the overall quality of America as a whole will fall drastically leading the nation toward an almost certainly grim future. America must learn from the example set by other nations and adapt to the times by beefing up the social welfare system. Johnathan Swifts description of Ireland foreshadows an equally grim reality for the United States if action is not taken soon. 

In 1729 author J Swift composed the the satire piece, a modest proposal, to let the people of Ireland know of the epidemic at hand. Sure, the solution was far fetched, but the issue at hand proved very prevenlant and in need of attention. That same problem regarding rising child poverty now exists today within what many consider to be the greatest country on earth. The saddest part is americans carry on with daily life as if the problem does not exist, as if one in five of our nations children don't live in poverty, as if it doesn't matter. The truth however is that we too share an epidemic faced by Ireland nearly 300 years ago, making J Swifts satire piece extremely relevant to America today. We most not allow history to repeat itself but instead have to lean from our ancestors to understand that this issue will prove detrimental to the nation if left as is. The American government surly must increase the social welfare system. (Conclusion not finished).