Top 100 Quotes About Public Policy
#1. Obama wanted to offer his support to birth control activist Sandra Fluke. He wanted to express his disappointment that she has been the subject of inappropriate personal attacks and thank her for exercising her rights as a citizen to speak out on an issue of public policy.
Jay Carney
#2. Compassion is not a dirty word. Compassion is not a sign of weakness. In my view, compassion in politics and in public policy is in fact a hallmark of great strength. It is a hallmark of a society which has about it a decency which speaks for itself.
Kevin Rudd
#3. The Tea Party is a group that rejects deep thinking, it rejects the very complex analysis that is involved in public policy, it rejects the kind of textured decision-making that Ronald Reagan prided himself on.
Eugene Jarecki
#4. Democracy cannot function or survive without a sufficient medium by which citizens remain informed and engaged in public policy debates.
Nancy Snow
#5. Nothing disturbs me more than superficiality and mere sloganizing on matters of public policy, and the suspicion that what the speaker is saying represents the full extent of his knowledge on the subject.
Preston Manning
#6. I do believe that, under the law, under the Constitution of the United States, and under our public policy, that women deserve and should have a right to enjoy equal employment opportunity.
Gloria Allred
#7. No Child Left Behind ... is a giraffe with an elephant's body ... You can't take the vision of Ted Kennedy and merge it to the public policy of George Bush and come out with anything that works.
Steve Rauschenberger
#8. Universality has been severely reduced: it is virtually dead as a concept in most areas of public policy.
Stephen Harper
#9. There is a thought that poverty is a public policy failure; poverty is man-made by action and non-action: poverty can be eliminated.
Benjamin Mkapa
#10. As much as I hate his movies, Oliver Stone has an aspiration I admire, and that is that he wants his art to be part of what makes and changes public policy and cultural practice.
Tony Kushner
#11. The first country to adopt happiness as an official goal of public policy is the tiny little country of Bhutan in Asia near China and India.
Derek Bok
#12. If scientists could communicate more in their own voices - in a familiar tone, with a less specialized vocabulary - would a wide range of people understand them better? Would their work be better understood by the general public, policy-makers, funders, and, even in some cases, other scientists?
Alan Alda
#13. The issue is not that morals be applied to public policy, it's that conservatives bring public policy to spheres of our lives where it should not enter.
Barney Frank
#14. As an economic historian, I appreciate what manufacturing has contributed to the United States. It was the engine of growth that allowed us to win two world wars and provided millions of families with a ticket to the middle class. But public policy needs to go beyond sentiment and history.
Christina Romer
#15. I was quite convinced that I didn't want to be a lawyer. But I felt that law school would be a useful way to understand public policy and to understand business in this environment.
Kevin Warsh
#16. I don't think that voters should be fixated on public policy. In a healthy republic, they wouldn't have to worry every waking hour about what their government is doing.
David Harsanyi
#17. The standard progressive approach of the moment is to mix color-conscious moral invective with color-blind public policy.
Ta-Nehisi Coates
#18. When the target of crime is armed, there is more law present, more public policy present, and more public interest served than by all 20,000 gun laws in force.
John Longenecker
#19. Far from a simple attempt to rid the nation of crime and drugs,
our policy against narcotics
like any public policy
comes with strings attached. And increasingly these strings
are constricting around the necks of Americans' lives and liberties.
Joel Miller
#20. Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an abomination? Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith?
Barack Obama
#21. Aside from the occasional genocide, oppression, evil and torture, etc., it is inarguable that public policy could be implemented more rapidly in an autocracy.
David Harsanyi
#22. The weapons-violence hypothesis is far too simplistic a basis on which to base sound public policy.
Daniel D. Polsby
#23. Despite our significant public-policy differences, I commend Jim Wallis for advocating religious belief as an invaluable resource in addressing the urgent moral and social crises of our time.
Richard Land
#24. Religious factions will go on imposing their will on others unless the decent people connected to them recognize that religion has no place in public policy. They must learn to make their views known without trying to make their views the only alternatives
Barry Goldwater
#25. The premise of my whole campaign has been not that people need to believe what I say to them, but they need to look at what I have done. And what I have done in the state of Nevada, I have voted over a 100 times against tax and fee increases, poor public policy, and unconstitutional bills.
Sharron Angle
#26. A government which lays taxes on the people not required by urgent public necessity and sound public policy is not a protector of liberty, but an instrument of tyranny. It condemns the citizen to servitude.
Calvin Coolidge
#28. Most start-up companies fail and it is smart public policy to help entrepreneurs increase their odds of succeeding. But, the biggest loss to our economy is not all the start-ups that didn't make it: It's the ones that might have been created but weren't.
Eric Ries
#29. Governments will always play a huge part in solving big problems. They set public policy and are uniquely able to provide the resources to make sure solutions reach everyone who needs them. They also fund basic research, which is a crucial component of the innovation that improves life for everyone.
Bill Gates
#30. Most people seem unaware that corporate influence and wealth has taken over public policy, such that government policy now favors the wealthy few at the expense of the people.
Hank Johnson
#31. But it's a stigmatized problem, and it's a silent problem. This has to end. Suicide is not just a personal tragedy, it's a key issue of public policy and facing up to it requires political will.
Bob Rae
#32. A serious problem in America is the gap between academe and the mass media, which is our culture. Professors of humanities, with all their leftist fantasies, have little direct knowledge of American life and no impact whatever on public policy.
Camille Paglia
#33. Everything that Bush touches turns to manure in public policy.
Alec Baldwin
#34. Public policy in the twentieth century was about protecting and expanding the social compact, based on recognition that effective government at the federal level provides rules and services and safety measures that contribute to a better society.
Carl Bernstein
#35. Limitation is not a matter of justice. It is a rule of public policy which has its origin in history and its justification in convenience.
Alfred Denning, Baron Denning
#36. Investing in women and girls may once have been considered a radical notion or even a waste of resources, but in most places in the world today, women and girls are increasingly recognized as a critical link to greater prosperity, political stability, better health and public policy.
Pat Mitchell
#37. There's a tremendous gap between public opinion and public policy.
Noam Chomsky
#38. Public policy today is favoring the rich, not the poor. It's not addressing the needs of the poor.
Joseph Lowery
#39. Abortion on demand, throughout the full nine months of a pregnancy, for virtually any reason, became public policy in the United States of America. No other developed democracy had, or has, such a permissive abortion regime.
Robert Casey
#40. The contemporary political scientist believes that he can avoid the necessity of moral judgments and that he can help frame public policy without committing himself to any ethical position.
Murray Rothbard
#41. But it is also clear that left entirely untouched by public policy, the capitalist system will produce more inequality than is socially healthy or than is necessary for maximum efficiency.
Barney Frank
#42. Judges who take the law into their own hands, who make up constitutional 'rights' in order to strike down laws they oppose, undermine the people's right to have their values shape public policy and define the culture.
Orrin Hatch
#43. Public-policy-wise, if you want to be consistent, crude oil is a bulk commodity, and you should be able to export it. I would rather the crude go to U.S. refineries to get refined and then export the refined product because we get double, triple the money.
John Shimkus
#44. When making public policy decisions about new technologies for the Government, I think one should ask oneself which technologies would best strengthen the hand of a police state. Then, do not allow the Government to deploy those technologies.
Phil Zimmermann
#45. I think, Tom Friedman is right, and I think that we have to - we have to have a serious public dialogue to try to shift public policy in that regard.
Cornel West
#46. When public policy is directed toward urban spaces, it is directed toward people who sit at the margins.
Julianne Malveaux
#47. Far too many people have been swept into the post-9/11 system of fear that is the basis of all public policy these days.
Bob Barr
#48. My appetite for public policy and changing it, and not only being a part of the conversation, but affecting it in a positive way, never diminished after 10 years in Congress.
Harold Ford Jr.
#49. Talk radio is an asset to our nation because it encourages strong and healthy debate about public policy, and there is no reason to affect that debate with government legislation.
Tim Walberg
#50. I don't think Arizonans are interested in having the Mormon religion dictate public policy to them.
Kyrsten Sinema
#51. Almost all philanthropy is by definition undemocratic, its priorities set by wealthy donors and boards of trustees, who by extension can shape the direction of public policy in faraway communities.
Dale Russakoff
#52. Donating money to a few of my favorite free-market organizations used to be a pleasant duty, but now I'm literally inundated with demands from hundreds of think tanks and public-policy groups, all vying for my limited funds
Mark Skousen
#53. It's fashionable to speak about vulnerable populations in medicine and public policy, but it's harder to find a more vulnerable population than those who are dying.
Nicholas A. Christakis
#54. I believe honor thy mother and father is not just a good commandment to live by, it is good public policy to govern by. That is why I feel so strongly about Medicare.
Barbara Mikulski
#55. The constant need for special waivers is symptomatic of poorly written public policy. It's a signal that the cost of compliance is unreasonably high; the benefits are hard to measure; and either legislators or regulators have failed to do their homework.
John Sununu
#56. Public policy can help, but there is no government that can fix these problems for us. Recall
J.D. Vance
#57. Family farmers are victims of public policy that gives preference to feeding animals over feeding people. This has encouraged the cheap grain policy of this nation and has made the beef cartel the biggest hog at the trough.
Howard Lyman
#58. I think unionization is good public policy. I think when families secure their economic future, that's good for everyone.
Bill De Blasio
#59. Conscious of our many problems, I seek today to lay a foundation to our public policy. My fundamental purpose is to devote my term of office to raising the standard of public service in New Jersey.
Charles Edison
#60. A civilian-based diplomacy supports noncommercial, nonprofit, and publicly-subsidized media to counteract the corporate-controlled, for-profit, private media that dominate political discourse; and works to place media control, ownership, and lobbying at the center of public policy debate.
Nancy Snow
#61. The reason I wrote political satire was because I thought it - politics - was important ... that public policy was important. Then I transitioned into books, then into radio.
Al Franken
#62. No state, as a matter of public policy, should turn back the clock on progress by, in effect, legalizing and relitigating the same types of discriminatory laws and debates that took America centuries to overcome.
Dannel Malloy
#63. There are hundreds of fine journalists who regularly inform us of what is happening in the world around us; and innumerable commentators who provide intelligent and objective insight on public policy matters.
Bob Barr
#64. Personal religious convictions have no place in political campaigns or in dictating public policy.
Geraldine Ferraro
#65. The choice made by families not to immunize their children is not supported by public policy or medical research nor should such action be supported by taxpayers in the form of child care payments.
Tony Abbott
#66. When a person's religious beliefs cause him to deny the evidence of science, or for whom public policy morphs into a battle with the devil, shouldn't that be a subject for discussion and debate?
Lawrence M. Krauss
#67. Broken families not only affect the people involved, but they have an impact on public policy decisions in Washington, D.C., and state capitols around the nation.
James Lankford
#68. I am a pastor, and I teach and preach the Bible to my congregation every week. But the Bible is not a manufacturer's handbook. Neither is it a science textbook nor a guidebook for public policy.
Adam Hamilton
#69. Opening up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling is bad public policy that has no place in the budget process,. The Budget Committee needs to leave drilling in the Arctic Refuge behind and focus on crafting this year's budget package.
Russ Feingold
#70. And if we make the process political, if we start to make it personal, we're actually going to frustrate good public policy, in terms of managing this money.
Michael Chertoff
#71. It is the inevitable effect of religion on public policy that makes it a matter of public concern. Advocates of religiosity extol the virtues or moral habits that religion is supposed to instill in us. But we should be equally concerned with the intellectual habits it discourages.
Wendy Kaminer
#72. Iraq failed for the same reasons that all conservative public policy efforts fail. Refusing to acknowledge the importance of government while relying on it to achieve your objectives causes the same kind of chaos in foreign policy that it does in matters closer to home.
Alan Wolfe
#73. There are three critical ingredients to democratic renewal and progressive change in America: good public policy, grassroots organizing and electoral politics.
Paul Wellstone
#74. I believe in an America ... where no public official either requests or accepts instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of Churches, or any other ecclesiastical source.
John F. Kennedy
#75. When I was growing up, we used to play basketball in a park that was never shoveled when it snowed. The basketball rims were never fixed. And we understood then that there was a relationship between public policy and our quality of life.
DeForest Soaries
#76. Everything we do in public policy prevents us from doing something else. To govern is to choose.
Richard Lamm
#77. To worry about differences in earned incomes simply because some persons earn more than other persons is to wallow in envy. And envy is, and ought to remain, a deadly sin rather than be fashioned into a livewire for energizing public policy.
Donald J. Boudreaux
#78. I think liberal art faculties at major universities have views that are not very sound, at least on public policy issues - they may know a lot of French however.
Charlie Munger
#79. For the most part, congressional Republicans represent people who are whiter, older and richer than most Americans, and our creaky old political system gives those Americans disproportionate influence over public policy.
Alex Pareene
#80. Cruelty practiced as a matter of social principle or public policy, and presented to the community as a means to a higher goal is the most obscene and decadent phenomenon of any civilization.
Vernon Howard
#81. There are some very real areas where working together is critical, whether it's talking about public policy issues, enforcement, or how to work together to facilitate new business opportunities. The RIAA has gotten much more involved in that.
Hilary Rosen
#82. I learned that you have to evaluate the effects of public policy as opposed to intentions.
Walter E. Williams
#83. I know few significant questions of public policy which can safely be confided to computers. In the end, the hard decisions inescapably involve imponderables of intuition, prudence, and judgment.
John F. Kennedy
#84. I always keep a firewall between my own travails and my perception of public-policy issues; otherwise I would retain no credibility as a commentator.
Conrad Black
#85. I do not believe it is the function of the judiciary to step in and change the law because the times have changed. I do well understand the difference between legislating and judging. As a judge, it is not my function to develop public policy.
Sandra Day O'Connor
#87. Numeracy isn't a sign of geekiness, but a basic requirement for intelligent discussions of public policy.
Nicholas Kristof
#88. I've spent the better part of my career in politics and public policy working on and fighting for education reforms.
Mark McKinnon
#89. For a time during the 1980s the Royal Family were not just the most influential family in Britain but probably in Europe and Prince Charles specifically was very much like a defacto Cabinet member and what he said actually had impact on public policy.
Andrew Morton
#90. The process for producing public policy in Congress is flawed. The process itself kills policy ideas through the bypassing of the rules and procedural decisions that limit discussion.
Dan Webster
#91. It presents a really compelling case against the whole theory of anthropogenic global warming. From my point of view, it is a theory that has completely corrupted public policy making in most of the developed world. It confronts all the dubious claims that the warmists have put out there.
Nick Minchin
#93. I believe we need affordable child care. I believe we need flexibility. I believe we need institutional reform and public policy reform.
Sheryl Sandberg
#94. Power tends to protect itself merely to maintain its own status and control. Principle gives up power for the sake of creating the best public policy.
Dan Webster
#95. The only way to improve the GOP brand and make good public policy is to fix the process. This requires transforming the way Congress does business.
Dan Webster
#96. I don't enjoy doing the daily stuff ... but I would love to do something like the series that I did on 'Change India.' That was not just news. The programme was based in public policy, so that kind of influences change.
Raghav Bahl
#97. Societies accomplished important goals that still elude politicians, specialists in public policy, social reformers, and philanthropists. They successfully created vast social and mutual aid networks among the poor that are now almost entirely absent in many atomistic inner cities.
David T. Beito
#98. Admittedly, I possess virtually no expertise in science. That puts me in exactly the same position as most dogmatic environmentalists who want to craft public policy around global warming fears.
David Harsanyi
#99. But many of these Silicon Valley entrepreneurs hard at work creating our technological future pay precious little attention to the public policy, legal, ethical, and security risks that their creations pose to the rest of society.
Marc Goodman
#100. The best public policy is made when you are listening to people who are going to be impacted.
Elizabeth Dole
