The great question that hovers over [the issues of urban unempolyment and rural destruction as a result of government agricultural policies] is the question of what people are FOR. IS their greatest dignity in unemployment? Is the obsolescence of human beings now our social goal? One would conclude so from our attitude toward work . . . and from our rush toward mechanization, automation, and computerization. In a country that puts an absolute premium on labor-saving measures, short workdays, and retirement, why should there be any surprise at permanence of unemployment and welfare dependency? Those are only different names for our national ambitions.

Wendell Berrry, "What Are People For?"