Always with an instinct for the outsider, and trying to break out of the consistently genetic pattern of his family, check out Robert Kennedy’s first major campaign speech, on the Gross National Product (listen to audio stream HERE), delivered at the conservative University of Kansas, March 18th, 1968: "Too much and for too long, we seemed to have surrendered personal 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…counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl…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." This might have been the first time a politician said economic growth, consumption and the American dream are inextricably linked.

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