Government Quotes

Distrust of government isn't baseless cynicism. It's realism.

If we had a flat tax code rather than a 70,000-page document full of cronyism and favors, bureaucrats and elected officials wouldn't have the power to do you any favors. That's what we need. You would have to compete on your own on a level playing field, but that's not what the government permits now.

I don't think that it's up to government to dictate what people should wear.

Hand in hand with freedom of speech goes the power to be heard, to share in the decisions of government which shape men's lives.

We've been in the nation-building business since World War I, and especially since WWII. The goal is not a Jeffersonian Democracy in Afghanistan, but a representative government that respects human rights, protects its own people, and is a friend of the West. These are very realistic - and necessary - goals.

The world is changing rapidly, and our government needs to move more quickly to transform how we operate to have the greatest positive impact on people's lives.

I don't think the government is out to get me or help someone else get me but it wouldn't surprise me if they were out to sell me something or help someone else sell me something. I mean, why else would the Census Bureau want to know my telephone number?

Every government says they love small businesses, but what have they done for them? We should pull down all the barriers.

At the State Department, where I oversaw our human rights diplomacy, I often confronted dictatorships like China about their censorship of the Internet, which they justified by claiming they were merely filtering out lies. Our government cannot and should not take that path.

The laws given on Mount Sinai for the government of man and woman were equal; the precepts of Jesus make no distinction.

Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking.

No one should negotiate their dreams. Dreams must be free to fly high. No government, no legislature, has a right to limit your dreams. You should never agree to surrender your dreams.

The most effective check and balance on government has been an independent press which maintains its credibility by ensuring that its criticism is balanced and based on fact - based indeed on solid journalistic work.

My father was a government officer and for him, the ultimate dream was to see me become an IAS officer.

The operations of the federal government will be most extensive and important in times of war and danger; those of the state governments, in times of peace and security.

As elected officials, we were sent to the halls of government by our neighbors to do their work - and much work needs to be done. Remembering our shared experiences with the people we represent makes us better and more accountable civil servants.

Bureaucracies tend to perpetuate themselves, whether they are multinational corporations or large government institutions such as Medicare, often at the expense of those that they are supposed to serve.

I think the American government is now the most corrupt government in the world.

Good government only happens when the people working in it do their jobs, and do them well.

Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.