“The gross
national product includes air pollution and advertising for cigarettes,
and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks
for our doors, and jails for the people who break them. The gross
national product includes the destruction of the redwoods and the death
of Lake Superior. It grows with the production of napalm and missiles
with nuclear warheads....
“And if the
gross national product includes all this, there is much that it does not
comprehend. It does not allow for the health of our families, the
quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It is indifferent
to the decency of our factories and the safety of streets alike. It does
not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages,
the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public
officials....
“The gross
national product measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our
wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to
country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life
worthwhile; and it can tell us everything about America -- except
whether we are proud to be Americans.”
—Robert
F. Kennedy
