Desperate times often call for desperate measures, and proposals for desperate measures are often met with swift criticism if they prove to lack rational thought and merit. It is unlikely that anyone in their right mind would, for any length of time, consider the proposition of raising children, or raising them properly, as food to help relieve poverty-stricken Ireland in 1729. However, Jonathan Swift's suggestion was brilliant satirist, and it was a modest proposal to illuminate the cause of Ireland's woes. The proposal was not actually to eat the children, but to place a mirror in which the reader could reflect. The target audience of landowners, gentlemen and other people of stature were more than accustomed to trampling on the poor on their way to the top. The solution has been adapted to appeal to those who, in his opinion, are the parties responsible for perpetuating the disadvantages of the Irish people. Jonathan Swift was born to a wealthy Irish family; he was well educated and became increasingly involved in politics in England and his homeland. Ireland's long history of invaders and repression culminated in England's draconian rule, which imposed tariffs and oppressed every religion besides the Church of England, primarily the Catholic Church. The constant mistreatment of his homeland became Swift's fodder. He wrote pointed satirical works, calling out social issues and promoting Irish self-government. The general tone of a modest proposal is that of economic benefit to those with wealth and power, marginalizing the basic rights of life for those who would become the food for the rich, the means of the poor to relieve their melancholy, and a call to the Irish people to unite and fight for their rights. The purely economic ration... at the heart of the paper... a manageable food supply, a small step from their already impossible situation, so Swift's proposal solves many problems. Calculate the number of viable stocks, the reserves for reproductive purposes, the costs of raising them and the financial benefits resulting from them. It is rational, economical for the lucky ones to buy, profitable for families who sacrifice their children to the slaughterhouse, and helps reduce the growth of the Catholic population, which was seen as a threat to the throne. His arguments are solid and irrefutable, granted if you can get past the consumption of what a knowledgeable American assured Swift as a healthy, well-breasted baby was delicious, nutritious, wholesome food at one year old. Your proposal is really modest and it seems like a winner to me! How much for the child at the window? Ah, good butcher, not the fat one. I'll have the smoked one, please. Mmm, baby bacon!