Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

"Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product ... if we should judge America by that - counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots in our streets. It counts Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.

"Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. 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. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it tells us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans."

As Robert Kennedy said in the except above "If we should judge America by [gross national product it] counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear out our highways of carnage." He further goes into what judging American by the gross national product means. It would include all of the small things that harm us as a country and that cause destruction. The funny thing is, it wouldn't include the good things such as quality of education or dedication to our country. Measuring by this would tell us everything bad about America, not why we are proud to say that we are Americans. 

According to investopedia, GNP " is a measure of a country's economic performance, or what its citizens produce whether they produced these items within its borders". I personally believe that it would be very hard to measure the overall health and happiness of America in economic terms. Honestly what are we going to do, take a poll? And when we do take that poll, how much of it can we really take seriously... maybe 50%. So there should be other indicators. Yes, we should take the overall health and happiness of the country into consideration but how exactly would we do that. I currently don't see a way for that to happen but it may be possible. We just need someone with the right mind and resources to figure it out.