Two Modest Proposals for a Better America

Bill Whittle Network

News

4.9 • 720 Ratings

🗓️ 7 July 2023

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1729 Jonathan Swift wrote 'A Modest Proposal,' which many consider to be the finest work of satire ever created. While never intended to be taken at face value, it nevertheless brought a contemporary issue into sharp moral focus. In this Independence Week episode, Bill has TWO Modest Proposals for making a better country. One of them, at least, deserves serious consideration. Friends, this is the week we celebrate our beloved country's Independence from totalitarianism, and today, more than ever we need your help in keeping this message alive and independent from creeping totalitarianism as well. You can join our family of Citizen Producers, or simply make a deeply-appreciated one-time donation by clicking here: https://billwhittle.com/register/

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Well, hi everybody, I'm Bill Wittle here with Steve Green and Scott Ott, and we're recording this on the 4th of July on Independence Day, and we're all filled with the spirit.
0:07.9	Did a little talking on our backstage show for members only about the events of 1776, and a gentleman several years before that in 1729, the famous British satirist Jonathan Swift, who wrote Gulliver's Travels, wrote a piece of satire.
0:24.3	The topic at the time was that the poor were having so many children, and they were not
0:29.2	be able to support them, and furthermore, these children would become a burden on the state.
0:33.3	And so Swift, in probably the greatest example of irony and satire ever, said the problem is simple.
0:39.4	Just poor people, just take your children, sell them to rich people, they can eat them.
0:43.8	So I have two modest proposals for you today, gentlemen, for the health of the Republic.
0:47.5	One of them is somewhat serious.
0:48.7	The other one's completely whimsical.
0:50.5	Steve, I'll give you the whimsical one.
0:53.0	I like a little whimsy.
0:55.3	We have in our little neighborhood an event on the 4th of July that is not nearly big enough to be called a parade, and that's why I like it so much.
1:05.0	Everybody in our neighborhood, it's a very well-defined little neighborhood, gathers on on this corner and then we just walk through
1:11.8	the neighborhood waving flags. There's no floats, there's nothing. There's a fire engine,
1:16.0	but that's about it. And just prior to this, a gentleman came up to the door to deliver
1:23.9	some groceries and Indian gentleman and he said, oh, your house is so beautiful.
1:29.9	I love the flag and everything and it's such a beautiful day and stuff. I said, well, thank you.
1:33.0	It's very kind. He said, this is such a great country. I said, are you a citizen? He says, I'm working
1:37.0	to being one. I said, well, you are welcome here, sir. My wife is an American citizen now. I think this is their first Fourth of July is an American citizen. So here's my modest proposal to you, Steve, the whimsical one.
1:49.9	My experience with people who legally come to this country, who wait for years in line and
1:57.2	then once they get here have to go through all these bells and whistles, it Natasha, it was a five-year process pretty nearly and not an inexpensive one either.
2:06.6	When I saw this man here in his deep love and appreciation for America,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Bill Whittle Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Bill Whittle Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.