Are you better off than you were four years ago?

I have respect for George Will as a commentator; though I don't often agree with him, I think he's intellectually honest and willing to concede when facts and ideology don't match up.

Nonetheless, I'm a bit amused by his column in today's Washington Post. In 1980, Ronald Reagan famously asked: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" And he rode that question to victory over Jimmy Carter.

Now, though, that question doesn't really redound to the credit of Republicans. And Will now believes that question is, well, incomplete:

Unfortunately, the phrase "better off" is generally understood as a reference to your salary, your bank balance, your IRA and the like. But wait. Are you better off being four years older? That depends.

If you are young, since 2004 you might have found romance, had children, learned to fly-fish and become a Tampa Bay Rays fan. In which case you emphatically are better off, even if since 2004 there has been only a 0.6 percent increase -- yes, increase -- in the median value of single-family homes.

Get it? It's time to look past tawdry economic concerns and focus on what really matters.

Let's put aside, for the moment, that that increase hasn't kept up with inflation over the same period of time -- meaning the value of your investment in your home isn't as great as it was.

Instead, let us agree that Will is telling an important truth, echoing Robert F. Kennedy's declaration:

"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."

Indeed. And yet...

One hesitates to do anything so obvious as refer to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, yet it seems appropriate right now as a response to Will. Because an enjoyment of those little things that make life richer -- fly fishing as hobby, or baseball fandom -- is to some extent dependent on being secure in life's necessities. Put it more simply: If you became a Rays fan in the last four years, but also declared bankruptcy -- or had your home foreclosed -- chances are you'll believe that you've suffered a net decline in your quality of life.

So even using Will's measure, it's a good bet that in 2008 a growing number of people have a straightforward answer to Reagan's old question: "No."