Modest Proposal

Swift is right, we should eat our babies.

Just kidding, but obviously population control was a concern long before our time. The idea that the earth is infinite and that we'll have resources to sustain life is just wishful thinking. In time, everything will run out (some resources more than others) and we could be faced with a "Serenity"-style scenario of interplanetary colonization. But for the time being, let's just try to see what we can make of the present earthly concerns.

Swift wrote this, tongue firmly in cheek, in part because of the complaints about Irish overpopulation (and the subsequent migration of said Irish to the mainland English shore). His solution of "controlling" the Irish population is intentionally barbaric because we're talking about human beings (something that could get lost in the argument about everything from overpopulation to illegal immigration). Our basic human decency towards one another can get lost when we talk about it in terms of numbers instead of individuals.

Apart from that, I'm not sure what else I can say about this piece that hasn't already been said. Swift could come across like a monster if you take it literally, but I have a feeling that a lot of his English readers might not have been in on the joke (they may have agreed that the only way to control the Irish was by eating them). It may be that we're not advanced enough to refrain from such barbaric tendencies. But I certainly hope no one takes Swift up on his idea.