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, Cannibalism. That’s 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 as described in Swifts’ A Modest Proposal, still holds relevant today within the  modern United States of America. In light of recent sources it’s 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 Cannibalism 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, 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. However, the issue at hand 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 ravished 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.” (Swift). Swift successfully exposes the problem at hand in this opening stanza by helping readers to imagine a world in which  child poverty cannot be ignored. The issue was clearly visible, even when simply walking the streets; beggars crowded every conner harassing those passing by in hope of spare change.  

Some may wonder how this description of Ireland at rock bottom could possibly compare to the modern 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 in America through compelling 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 continues, “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” (Sach 1). Shocking, isn't it? Despite enormous economic achievement, America still suffers from a child poverty epidemic 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 addressed in his modest proposal still effects even the richest of nations.

After Jonathan Swift calls attention to the child poverty plaque in Ireland, he goes on to explain the necessity for a solution, claiming child poverty could prove dangerous to the nation as a whole. The author states, “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)  Here lies the motivation behind Swift’s writing. By referring to anyone with a potential solution as the “preserver of the nation” he implies that the problem, if left unresolved, would prove detrimental to Ireland. The author is attempting to spark motivation within the citizens of Ireland before it becomes too late. If not, the nation faced a new low of  total catastrophe. Such foreshadowing complicates the issue at hand on a modern level as well. Similar to the Irish, Americans must realize that the United States poverty epidemic will drastically effect the overall wellbeing of the nation. If Irelands’ sky high child poverty rate correlated with perhaps the worst period in national history, what does the future hold for America? Will Americans too, fall victim to failed economics and overall poverty if the issue is not resolved? These are the questions Swift attempts to evoke in readers.

To address this note worthy quarry, author Timothy Smeeding composed the article Addressing Child Poverty: How Does the United States Compare With Other Nations. Within this piece 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, on a path to total failure. He begins, “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 leading to low employment rates in adulthood. There are 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 the tools necessary to reach success in adult hood. The most visible example of this lies in the nations’ ghettos, cities are overflowing with poor families who's children are unable to obtain proper youth support. Consequently, they are unable to escape the cycle and turn toward the streets for survival. It is difficult in an environment like this for even the most focused of students to succeed. The sinister pattern only persists, leaving children struck by poverty at birth unable to escape.  This terrifying reality in a nation which claims to be world class 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 toward failure. Clearly Jonathan Swift’s call for help is equally necessary in the States. 

Given the knowledge that change is necessary for the overall betterment of America, the next logical step is to seek resolve. While author Jonathan 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’s clear that one common factor between modern America and 17th century Ireland is an inefficient distribution of wealth among 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 in America 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). As stated, lower class families fail to see the benefits of American economic expansion yet fall victim to national recession, proving that wealth is unfairly distributed within the United States. In a perfect economy, all social classes find increased average income in light of national economic success, and suffer equally during times of recession. 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 within the cycle of poverty. At the same time 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 poverty rate in America will only continue to grow worse. 

Rather than consuming our children, the best solution would be for America to follow in Europe's' footsteps by strengthening social welfare 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. Author Jeffery Sach analyzes the effectiveness of social outlays toward alleviating poverty by exclaiming, “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).  After comparing the states to other leading countries, it becomes apparent that America’s minuscule social welfare system is the culprit behind child poverty. Despite this, American citizens remain opposed to any form of tax increases. Rather than simply dismissing a candidate with intentions of raising taxes, Americans  must realize sacrifice is necessary to alleviate child poverty. While increased taxes are certainly rough t 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 life in America could decline drastically dooming the nation to a grim future. America must learn from the example set by our more experienced neighbors, and adapt to the times by beefing up the social welfare system. However with the current detain toward increased taxation, America may be doomed to the future illustrated by Swifts’ description of Ireland. 

In 1729, author Jonathan Swift composed the satiric piece, A modest proposal, to emotionally startle the citizens of Ireland with intentions of evoking a call to action. Swift, like many modern authors, recognized the severity of the issue at hand and decided to direct attention toward it through writing.  Nearly 300 years later, the American people require a similar startle. While mass media continues to depict the USA as a land of golden opportunity, one fifth of the nations children struggle to eat, learn, or simply get by. For this reason I argue the issue of child poverty as described in A Modest Proposal, still holds relevant today within the  modern United States of America.  Equally so, Swifts description of poverty struck Ireland and the strong emphasis he places toward finding a solution complicates the issue  by exposing a deeper, possibly detrimental flaw within the united states economy. Sure, Swift’s solution was far fetched, but the issue at hand was not, and is not, ignorable. The American people most not allow history to repeat itself; instead we must learn from our ancestors in understanding that this issue could prove detrimental if left un tended. In regard to modern research and the example set by other world leaders, the best solution appears to be increasing social welfare programs within the states. However before any solution can be executed, the United States must at least admit to the epidemic at hand and inform her people of the danger rising poverty holds. Simply ignoring Swifts’ message is far too dangerous to the future wellbeing of America.
