Robert Kennedy, 1968

"We will find neither national purpose nor personal satisfaction in a mere continuation of economic progress, in an endless amassing of worldly goods. We cannot measure national spirit by the Dow Jones Average, nor the national achievement by the Gross National Product. For the Gross National Product includes air pollution, and ambulances to clear our highways from carnage. It counts special locks for our door 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 and nuclear warheads . . . It includes . . . the broadcasting of television programs which glorify violence to sell goods to our children.

"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 our streets alike. It does not include the beauty of our poetry, or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public officials . . . the Gross National Product measures neither our compassion nor our devotion to our county. 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 Kennedy, 1968 (taken from 1968 by Mark Kurlansky)

What invaluable words of wisdom whose pertinence resonates today. . .