Bhutan was the first country to attempt this in 1972, when its ruler coined the term "gross domestic happiness, " but the idea is as old as Plato's Republic: how to cultivate happy as well as prosperous citizens.

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But the Declaration of Independence does not say that government should pursue the happiness of its citizens, only that it should secure its citizens' unalienable right to pursue it for themselves.

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Today most of the gold is gone, but in its place is something much more valuable: a rich vein of health, happiness, and fitness that the men of Boise, Idaho, are mining every day.

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