The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 4 of 13)

I've been a registered Republican all of my adult life, but your article has really opened my eyes (sadly, I do require reading glasses!) and I'm going to re-register as a Democrat as soon as I can find my cane and hobble over to the post office.

p>As one who is familiar with more forms of death than the average person, I've never seen a "dignified" death. But, what the heck, we'll all be dead someday and, in the meantime, the ill, the sick, and the injured owe it to the healthy to just disappear. br> -- Tillman L. Jeffrey br> Manteca, California /p>

I log on to the American Spectator every day, and am always pleased when I discover you have written another article.

I greatly enjoyed reading "A Modest Proposal," especially since I have read Gulliver's Travels perhaps a dozen times over the years, because of Swift's writing style and his insightful analysis of society in his day (and applicable to "modern" society, too- - see a description of judges, lawyers, and European court ministers in Gulliver's fourth voyage to the Houyhnhnms). I am always refreshed after reading Swift's description of the people he meets, but perhaps most of all the people on the third island (Laputa) Gulliver visits.

In case you have not read the book, in Laputa he meets some people that live forever (barring some violent physical shock), and is horrified to discover that, far from becoming wise sages of infinite resource to perplexing issues of the day, they become enfeebled, lose much of their memory, cannot speak with the inhabitants (because dialects have changed), and must be supported by the generosity of the public. In short, they become a burden yet contribute nothing to society, yet for all that they are both tolerated and pitied. Not a direct comparison to all people on life support today, but one could draw some comparisons.

p>I regret that I cannot find other stories written by Swift, or other books and stories written in Swift's style (until today). br> -- Tom Scheffelin /p> p> Jonathon Swift was only concerned with the Irish potato famine when he penned his satire. I am happy to see someone of your stature take on a subject which poses a potential threat to our nation's economic well-being. As always, looking forward to your next pithy article. br> --

topics:
Taxes, Foreign Policy, Harry Reid, Business, Social Security, Satire, Abortion, Books, Constitution, Law, Communism, Oil