A Modest Proposal For Fixing America’s Broken Election System
In his “A Modest Proposal,” Jonathan Swift sarcastically proposed that Ireland swallow its children to solve its most pressing problem.
Opinion · 1 source · Jul 28, 2026Read itThe journal
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About A Modest Proposal
A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick, commonly referred to simply as A Modest Proposal, is a 1729 satirical essay by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift. The essay, written from the perspective of a fictional narrator, suggests that the Irish poor could ease their economic troubles by selling their children as food to wealthy gentlemen and ladies. In English writing, the phrase "a modest proposal" is now conventionally an allusion to this style of deadpan satire.
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