Policy Making Quotes

• Science and policy-making thrive on challenge and questioning; they are vital to the health of inquiry and democracy.

  Nicholas Stern

  Challenges, Democracy, Inquiry

  "The point of no return" by Nicholas Stern, www.theguardian.com. March 29, 2009.

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• Sausage making and policy-making shouldn't be seen close-up.

  Donald Rumsfeld

  Sausage, Policy

  Donald Rumsfeld (2001). “Public Statements of Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, 2001”

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• Policy-making, decision-taking, and control: These are the three functions of management that have intellectual content.

  Anthony Stafford Beer

  Decision, Intellectual, Three

  "Management Science" by Anthony Stafford Beer, (p. 10), 1968.

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• In modern times sound policy-making must often come to grips with numbers.

  Randal Marlin

  Numbers, Sound, Modern

  Randal Marlin (2013). “Propaganda and the Ethics of Persuasion - Second Edition”, p.118, Broadview Press

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• In general, I don't think that economic, social and cultural rights are primarily a matter of going to court. They are most useful today as commitments which can help ensure effective and equitable policy-making at every level.

  Mary Robinson

  Commitment, Thinking, Rights

  Source: www.opendemocracy.net

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• From where you sit, the White House may look as untidy as the inside of a stomach. As is said of the legislative process, sausage-making and policy-making shouldn't be seen close-up. Don't let that panic you. Things may be going better than they look from the inside.

  Donald Rumsfeld

  White, House, Sausage

  Donald Rumsfeld (2001). “Public Statements of Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense, 2001”

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• At some fundamental level, religion does not allow for compromise. It insists on the impossible. If God has spoken, then followers are expected to live up to God's edicts, regardless of the consequences. To base one's life on such uncompromising commitment may be sublime; to base our policy making on such commitments would be a dangerous thing.

  Barack Obama

  Commitment, Sublime, Doe

  Barack Obama (2006). “The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream”, p.153, Crown

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• Our current model of capitalism and the dominant ideas in policy making have led to a failure of investment by both the public and the private sector in the things that drive productivity, and which affect its distribution.

  Mariana Mazzucato

  Ideas, Investment, Currents

  Source: www.salon.com

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• The military has a huge role in the economy [of Pakistan] with big stakes and, as you say, it has constantly intervened to make sure that it keeps its hold on policy making. Well, I hope, and there seem to be some signs, that the military is taking a backseat, not really in the economy, but in some of the policy issues. If that can continue, which perhaps it will, this will be a positive development.

  Noam Chomsky

  Military, Issues, Roles

  Source: www.dawn.com

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• My view always is that we should learn the lessons, both of the last sort of 50 years of policy-making and it is possible to get to a foreign policy that is engaged and active without going back to where we were in the post-9/11 world.

  Tony Blair

  Views, Years, World

  Interview with Glenn Thrush, www.politico.com. August 24, 2016.

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• I am in the process of trying to decide whether I can make a substantive and productive contribution to the policy-making process. I was always there because I wanted to work on the pressing issues of the day - I'm interested in energy, I'm interested in the climate bill and technology policy.

  Charles Bass

  Technology, Issues, Trying

  "Charlie Bass' political comeback". www.politico.com. September 30, 2009.

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• For some time I have been disturbed by the way the CIA has been diverted from its original assignment. It has become an operational and at times a policy making arm of the government.

  Harry S. Truman

  Government, World, Arms

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• Forecasting by bureaucrats tends to be used for anxiety relief rather than for adequate policy making.

  Nassim Nicholas Taleb

  Anxiety, Relief, Adequate

  Nassim Nicholas Taleb (2010). “The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable Fragility"”, p.162, Random House

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• The way that you eliminate bad and ugly is either through activism and policy making that never tolerates evil -- instead of the liberal politically correct policy of accepting evil and accepting other points of views that destroy lives. We the thoughtful, productive people of American have got to take our freedom back.

  Ted Nugent

  Thoughtful, Views, People

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• We must first note that economic factors are taken into account in a world in which ignorance, prejudice, and mental confusion, encouraged rather than dispelled by the political organization, exert a strong influence on policy making.

  Ronald Coase

  Strong, Taken, Ignorance

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• There are legions of [Aquarian, New Age, One World Religion] conspirators. They are in corporations, universities, and hospitals, on the faculties of public schools, in factories and doctors offices, in state and federal agencies, on city councils, and the White House staff, in state legislatures, in volunteer organizations, in virtually all arenas of policy making in the country.

  Marilyn Ferguson

  Country, School, World Religions

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• 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

  Views, Dubious, World

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• The people have only a very vague direct power. They have the power of voting against the administration, again after its decisions have been taken; but they have no way of getting into the question of policy-making, decision-making, except insofar as the vague forces and pressures of public debate and public opinion have their impact on the President. The President still has to decide. He can't go to the people and ask them to decide for him; he has to make the decision. In that sense he was condemned to be a dictator.

  Walter Millis

  Taken, Impact, People

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• Cities like Portland, Seattle, and Long Beach, which have made these investments in their infrastructure, are seeing not only health advantages, but also a lot more exchange in the community, which leads to better policy-making and stronger communities.

  Ben Sollee

  Beach, Cities, Long

  "Ben Sollee Interview | Activism by cello? On a bike?". Interview with Amanda Taylor, www.marandapleasantmedia.com.

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• Active liberty is particularly at risk when law restricts speech directly related to the shaping of public opinion, for example, speech that takes place in areas related to politics and policy-making by elected officials. That special risk justifies especially strong pro-speech judicial presumptions. It also justifies careful review whenever the speech in question seeks to shape public opinion, particularly if that opinion in turn will affect the political process and the kind of society in which we live.

  Stephen Breyer

  Strong, Law, Political

  "Active Liberty: Interpreting Our Democratic Constitution". Book by Stephen Breyer, 2008.

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