Years ago nobody was elected on the economic ticket. It was either the education platform, or it was health or it was other issues. It is only recently that economic values have superceded every other human value.

Roddick contrasts earlier political campaigning—framed around social goods like education and public health—with a more recent era in which economic performance and market metrics dominate electoral debate. The quote laments a shift in public priorities: when “economic values” become the primary yardstick, other forms of value (human welfare, dignity, community, environmental stewardship) are treated as secondary or instrumental. Coming from a business leader known for ethical consumerism and activism, the remark also critiques the way economic language can crowd out moral language, turning politics into a competition over growth, efficiency, and profit rather than a deliberation about what constitutes a good society.