Robert F. Kennedy(1)

Jeg har i årevis tænkt og følt at der er noget helt galt i at betragte et lands BNP(BruttoNationalProdukt) som værende en meningsfyldt målestok for noget som helst, uden helt at kunne forklare hvorfor(hvilket naturligvis ikke er en særligt tilfredsstillende position). At læse økonomi på universitet, gjorde ikke noget videre for at rette op på det. Det forekommer mig absurd, at hvis man fx øver vold mod gamle mennesker, så de skal have kunstige hofter, stiger BNP'en. Dét kan af flere grunde ikke være en sund tilstand for et samfund.

Så pludselig ud af det blå, viser TV2 en film om Robert F. Kennedy - bror til den myrdede præsident John F. Kennedy. Robert blev som bekendt selv myrdet, under sin egen valgkamp for at blive USA's præsident. I denne film præsenteres følgende citat fra en af Robert F. Kennedys taler:

"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, now, is over $800 billion dollars a year, but that Gross National Product - if we judge the United States of America by that - that Gross National Product 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 the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwood and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities. 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 can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.

Hele talen, som også omhandler USA daværende Vietnam-politik, kan læses
her.

Meget skidt kan - og bør - siges om Kennedy'erne, i tilfældet Robert, især om hans tid inden attentatet på broderen. Men det er yderst sjældent at man hører en centralt placeret politiker, sige noget SÅ indholdsrigt som ovenstående. Mere af den slags tak.