"A Modest Proposal" and The Onion

As I was reading Swift's A Modest Proposal, I couldn't help but draw connections to the satire news source The Onion. The one news story that kept coming back to me as I was reading was one satirizing Taco Bell and it's quality of ingredients. The Onion news cast performed a story that said that environmentalists can rejoice because Taco Bell can now use no naturally found substances in their meals, conserving nature and helping the planet. They used the example that though Taco Bell was very close to being this environmentally friendly before, the company had now found a way to substitute the lettuce they use for a man made lettuce-like product.When I first heard this story, the scandal about schools using the "pink slime" in their cafeteria meat was coming out and the public was starting to be more aware of where our food was actually coming from. The story was funny and entertaining in the same way that Swift's was, it addressed an issue that was current and gave it a resolution that, though it is completely amoral and nobody would actually do it, rationally makes sense.
Nobody would ever eat babies, no government would purpose or encourage that, but through Swifts use of satire, he makes it look like a completely valid argument. He has point after point of arguments that make sense, and if they were for any other issue, would be persuasive to any politician. The same for the Onion, they combined the issue of food safety and environmental preservation and made one ridiculous argument.