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Public Policy Quotes

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Public Policy Quotes

“In recent years a smaller share of young adults has been employed than at any time since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking such trends in 1948. So it's not surprising that this generation of youthful protesters has a different focus for their grievances: the economy, stupid. But notice the targets they've chosen to demonize. It's all about class, not age. It's 1% versus 99%, not young versus old. Occupy Wall Street, not Occupy Leisure World.”

AgeClassEconomyEconomicsLaborAgingEmploymentAmerican DreamUnemploymentPublic PolicyClass StruggleBoomersOccupy Wall StreetAge DifferenceMillenialsOccupyLabor ActivismProtestersBaby Boomers99 Percent1 PercentLaboring ClassWorking Class America
Book:The Next America: Boomers, Millennials, and the Looming Generational Showdown
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“America isn't breaking apart at the seams. The American dream isn't dying. Our new racial and ethnic complexion hasn't triggered massive outbreaks of intolerance. Our generations aren't at each other's throats. They're living more interdependently than at any time in recent memory, because that turns out to be a good coping strategy in hard times. Our nation faces huge challenges, no doubt. So do the rest of the world's aging economic powers. If you had to pick a nation with the right stuff to ride out the coming demographic storm, you'd be crazy not to choose America, warts and all.”

GenerationsConflictEconomicsAgingPopulationAmerican DreamAmerican PoliticsAmerican CultureRace RelationsRace And Racism In AmericaDemographicsInterdependencePublic PolicyWorkforceAgeismRace In AmericaGeneration GapRecessionThe American DreamAging PopulationU S PoliticsProblems Of TodayDemographics Of United StatesU S CultureDemograghic ShiftsDemographics Of UsAging WorkforceAmerican PopulationGemographic ShiftU S Population
Book:The Next America: Boomers, Millennials, and the Looming Generational Showdown
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“There's no evidence from decades of Pew Research surveys that public opinion, in the aggregate, is more extreme now than in the past. But what has changed -- and pretty dramatically -- is the growing tendency of people to sort themselves into political parties based on their ideological differences.”

PoliticsNewsResearchIdeologyVotingPolitical PartiesPublic OpinionSegregationAmerican PoliticsAmerican CultureExtremismPartisansFactionsPublic PolicyAmericansPartisanshipCurrent EventsPolarizationIdeologuesCategorizationCurrent AffairsIdeologiesPolitical BeliefsChanging TimesU S PoliticsVoter BehaviorFactionalismSelf Segregation
Book:The Next America: Boomers, Millennials, and the Looming Generational Showdown
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“All our current media concerns have in French the suffix '-aire': identitaire (issues of identity), sanitaire (health concerns), securitaire ('law and order'), humanitaire (humanitarianism). The whole lot being publicitaire (promotional). There is in this suffix something which quite aptly characterizes our culture as funerarium of received ideas and single-track thinking.”

Public PolicyFree ThinkingPromotional
Book:Cool Memories IV, 1995-2000
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“As Augustus basked in self-praise, he became aware of a movement beyond his reflection, beyond the glass. At first he saw the flicking tail of the yellow goatfish, then a blue and gold tang, then a school of pearl wrasses. As he refocused his eyes into the tank he realized that all of the creatures of the aquarium were just across the glass, all of them staring at him. What on Earth is going on here, their expressions seemed to say. Augustus shook his head, suddenly uncomfortable. “Youse all there in the fish tank,” he growled, pointing, “youse can go stuff yerself for all I care! I’m done here.”

ScienceClimate ChangePublic PolicyFishMisinformationAllegoryFableAquarium
Book:FISH TANK: A Fable for Our Times
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“Surprisingly few tussles occurred over the falling food. ... Only Push the puffer and Hammy the parrotfish regularly stole more than their fair share. But they argued that as they were bigger than the others, they deserved more. “Plus,” Push said, “and I don’t mean to be indelicate here, but some of you eat our ordure. Thus if we get more, you get more.” “Let’s face it,” added Hammy, wanting to add to Push’s words, “that is the way the world works.”

ScienceClimate ChangePublic PolicyFishMisinformationAllegoryFableAquarium
Book:FISH TANK: A Fable for Our Times
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“What Roop says is correct. That thermometer hasn’t worked in years.” Sanger paused, looking around for Hansom before continuing. Not seeing the goatfish, he proceeded confidently, “Actually, I daresay my own studies have found the instrument to be so imprecise that it is my professional opinion that the temperature is just as likely to be going down as to be going up!”

ScienceClimate ChangePublic PolicyFishMisinformationAllegoryFableAquarium
Book:FISH TANK: A Fable for Our Times
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“Demagoguery is about identity. It says that complicated policy issues can be reduced to a binary of us (good) versus them (bad). It says that good people recognize there is a bad situation, and bad people don't; therefore, to determine what policy agenda is the best, it says we should think entirely in terms of who is like us and who isn't. In American politics, it becomes Republican versus Democrat or 'conservative' versus 'liberal.' That polarized and factionalized way of approaching public discourse virtually guarantees demagogues, on all sorts of issues, and in all sorts of directions. Demagoguery is a serious problem, as it undermines the ability of a community to come to reasonable policy decisions and tends to promote or justify violence, but it's rarely the consequence of an individual who magically transports a culture into a different world. Demagoguery isn't about what politicians do; it's about how we, as citizens, argue, reason, and vote. Therefore, reducing how much our culture relies on demagoguery is our problem, and up to us to solve.”

PoliticsDemocracyArgumentFascismRhetoricAuthoritarianismPublic PolicyDemagogueryPublic DiscoursePolitical Discourse
Book:Demagoguery and Democracy
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“As the Starmer project repelled paying members and alienated minority communities, the flipside was Labour's renewed openness to lobbyists and big business. After all, someone has to pay the bills. From 2022, onward, lobbying firms assiduously hired party insiders with the aim of influencing Labour policy - and with the hope that doors would open once a Labour Government was elected. This was accompanied by an influx of monetary donations as well as gifts from the super-rich donor class and other private interests. Starmer personally accepted tens of thousands of pounds in luxury holidays, clothing, and other freebies in the years following the Covid pandemic. All of this raised serious questions about how, and for whose benefit, Labour policy is now made.”

Big BusinessPublic PolicyLobbyistsLabour Party UkFreebiesSir Keir StarmerCorporate CaptureLuxury HolidaysPublic Policy DevelopmentPublic Policy Formulation
Book:The Fraud: Keir Starmer, Morgan McSweeney, and the Crisis of British Democracy
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“The most [...] literal proposal to solve the problem of congestion comes from Harvey Wiley Corbett [...] Ultimately, Corbett calculates, the entire surface of the city could be a single traffic plane, an ocean of cars, increasing the traffic potential 700 percent. "[...We see] a very modernized Venice, a city of arcades, plazas and bridges, with canals for streets, only the canals will not be filled with real water but with freely flowing motor traffic, the sun glistening on the black tops of the cars and the buildings reflecting in this waving flood of rapidly rolling vehicles. From an architectural viewpoint [...] the idea presents all the loveliness, and more, of Venice. There is nothing incongruous about it, nothing strange..." Corbett's "solution" for New York's traffic problem is the most blatant case of disingenuity in Manhattanism's history. Pragmatism so distorted becomes pure poetry. Not for the moment does the theorist intend to relieve congestion; his true ambition is to escalate it to such intensity that it generates -- as in a quantum leap -- a completely new condition, where congestion becomes mysteriously positive [... Corbett and the authors of the Regional Plan] have invented a method to deal rationally with the fundamentally irrational. [They know] that it would be suicide to solve Manhattan's problems, that they exist by the grace of these problems, that it is their duty to make its problems, if anything, forever insurmountable, that the only solution for Manhattan is the extrapolation of its freakish history, that Manhattan is the city of the perpetual flight forward.”

New York CityTrafficManhattanPublic PolicyCongestionCity PlanningRem Koolhaas
Book:Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan
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“While we might expect to see venture capital develop further in an increasingly intangible economy, it is not clear that governments can or should do much more to promote it than they already do. As Josh Lerner showed in The Boulevard of Broken Dreams (2012), once tax breaks or subsidies for venture capital get beyond a certain level, they tend to encourage dumb investments (since the tax gain on its own is enough for the investors to profit); since the entire point of venture capital is smart investment, very large tax breaks are self-defeating. For a country to grow its venture capital sector, time and favorable framework conditions are more important than additional subsidies.”

Public PolicyVenture CapitalIntangible Economy
Book:Capitalism without Capital: The Rise of the Intangible Economy
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“Analisis sosial adalah cara untuk memulai sebuah penyelesaian masalah. Analisis sosial yang harus diutamakan adalah nalar dalam menganalisis sesuatu melalui data yang akurat, kekuatan argumentasi, pengetahuan, epistemologi, dan hal-hal mendasarnya. Hal itu semua membutuhkan dialog dengan berbagai kalangan yang menjadi pemangku kepentingan masalah tersebut untuk menemukan akar masalahnya.”

Public PolicyEpistemologySocial Transformation
Book:Mengubah Kebijakan Publik
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“Your friends and I want you to stay aware of your surroundings, James Ed. These days you cannot anticipate what a disgruntled, former employee might do.”

Public PolicyCharacter DevelopmentMoral PrinciplesCultural ChangeSystemic IssuesAdvocacy For ChildrenHistorical ReflectionTeaching EthicsThe Past And FutureTradition Versus Progress
Book:James Ed Hoskins and the One-Room Schoolhouse: The Unprosecuted Crime Against Children
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“The policy debate about sanctions has been repeated almost every decade since the [League of Nations] was created in the wake of World War I. At its core has been the perennial question: do economic sanctions work? While the success rate differs depending on the objective, the historical record is relatively clear: most economic sanctions have not worked. In the twentieth century, only one in three uses of sanctions was “at least partially successful.” More modest goals have better chances of success. But from the available data it is clear that the history of sanctions is largely a history of disappointment. What is striking is that this limited utility has not affected frequency of use. To the contrary: sanctions use doubled in the 1990s and 2000s compared to the period from 1950 to 1985; by the 2010s it had doubled again. Yet while in the 1985–1995 period, at a moment of great relative Western power, the chances of sanctions success were still around 35–40 percent, by 2016 this had fallen below 20 percent. In other words, while the use of sanctions has surged, their odds of success have plummeted.”

EconomicsForeign PolicySanctionsInternational RelationsPublic Policy
Book:The Economic Weapon: The Rise of Sanctions as a Tool of Modern War
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“Corporate social activism is not a market-based alternative to government, nor should it be. There is simply no substitute for good, effective government in a democracy.”

GovernmentDemocracySocial ChangePublic PolicyCorporate Social ResponsibilityCorporate Social ActivismGovernment Reform
Book:The Capitalist and the Activist: Corporate Social Activism and the New Business of Change
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“While politicians like to say that some issues are “more than politics” or “beyond politics,” if they were being honest with us and themselves, they would confess that the truly important and consequential issues of our time need politics and the political process.”

PoliticalPoliticsDemocracyPublic PolicyPolitical Process
Book:The Capitalist and the Activist: Corporate Social Activism and the New Business of Change
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“Roosevelt wouldn't interfere even when he found out that Moses was discouraging Negroes from using many of his state parks. Underlying Moses' strikingly strict policing for cleanliness in his parks was, Frances Perkins realized with "shock," deep distaste for the public that was using them. "He doesn't love the people," she was to say. "It used to shock me because he was doing all these things for the welfare of the people... He'd denounce the common people terribly. To him they were lousy, dirty people, throwing bottles all over Jones Beach. 'I'll get them! I'll teach them!' ... He loves the public, but not as people. The public is just The Public. It's a great amorphous mass to him; it needs to be bathed, it needs to be aired, it needs recreation, but not for personal reasons -- just to make it a better public." Now he began taking measures to limit use of his parks. He had restricted the use of state parks by poor and lower-middle-class families in the first place, by limiting access to the parks by rapid transit; he had vetoed the Long Island Rail Road's proposed construction of a branch spur to Jones Beach for this reason. Now he began to limit access by buses; he instructed Shapiro to build the bridges across his new parkways low -- too low for buses to pass. Bus trips therefore had to be made on local roads, making the trips discouragingly long and arduous. For Negroes, whom he considered inherently "dirty," there were further measures. Buses needed permits to enter state parks; buses chartered by Negro groups found it very difficult to obtain permits, particularly to Moses' beloved Jones Beach; most were shunted to parks many miles further out on Long Island. And even in these parks, buses carrying Negro groups were shunted to the furthest reaches of the parking areas. And Negroes were discouraged from using "white" beach areas -- the best beaches -- by a system Shapiro calls "flagging"; the handful of Negro lifeguards [...] were all stationed at distant, least developed beaches. Moses was convinced that Negroes did not like cold water; the temperature at the pool at Jones Beach was deliberately icy to keep Negroes out. When Negro civic groups from the hot New York City slums began to complain about this treatment, Roosevelt ordered an investigation and an aide confirmed that "Bob Moses is seeking to discourage large Negro parties from picnicking at Jones Beach, attempting to divert them to some other of the state parks." Roosevelt gingerly raised the matter with Moses, who denied the charge violently -- and the Governor never raised the matter again.”

New York CityTransportationPublic PolicySystemic RacismPublic TransitRobert Moses
Book:The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
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“Solution #2. PRACTICE INFORMED CONSENT WITHOUT PREJUDICE. Parents and their children should not be refused service by any pediatric office due to their personal beliefs on vaccinations, nor should they be kicked out of these offices for refusal to take any vaccines or by not complying with following the CDC’s recommended vaccine schedule. The doctors should be practicing informed consent, educating parents and children on vaccines and their benefits and risks, and allowing them to decide whether or not they wish to vaccinate. Conflicts of interest should be removed from these offices, and families should never be forced to “follow the vaccine schedule, and keep up with the vaccines, or find a new pediatrician.” The pediatrician’s job should be to inform and advise, and not to use excessive force or pressure to promote vaccinations. Who is serving who? Parents should have the ultimate authority to decide if and when vaccines should be given to their children.”

Public HealthPublic PolicyVaccinationImmunologyChildren S HealthSaying No To VaccinesVaccines And Your ChildDoctor Patient RelationshipVaccine EpidemicVaccine Myths And Facts
Book:Louis Pasteur Condemns Big Pharma: Vaccines, Drugs, and Healthcare in the United States
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“Solution #3. PARENTS SHOULD DECIDE WHAT IS RIGHT FOR THEIR CHILDREN. No drugs, vaccines, or medical procedures of any kind should be given or done to any child without the knowledge, approval, and consent of the parents or guardians of that child. No federal funding for children’s services within individual states for foster care or adoption should be allowed, as this violates the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, and encourages medical kidnapping by the states. Medical kidnapping by the state and their children’s health services due to a difference of professional medical opinion in health treatments for children should be disallowed. Doctors make mistakes. Therefore, one doctor’s diagnosis or opinion should never be considered enough evidence to take a child away from their parents. The parents/guardians, along with the advice of their own healthcare providers and not the state, shall determine what the acceptable treatment, if any, for any health condition present in their children should be. Parental rights and determination regarding children’s health treatment in cooperation with a licensed healthcare provider supersedes any local medical or governmental authority. This recent movement to take away the rights and responsibilities from parents or their guardians must stop. It makes no sense. Children are not old enough or mature enough to make decisions which could affect the rest of their lives. They are children, and do not have the experience to make such decisions. This is a parent’s job. Parents are the ones responsible for their children, not the state, the school, or the doctor’s office. If others do these things without parental consent or knowledge and the child is killed or injured permanently from medical treatments, procedures, drugs, or vaccines, then who will be responsible for burying the child, or taking care of the disabled child for the remainder of their lives? It is the parents. Therefore, parents should have the ultimate authority over their children and their healthcare until the children become adults, at which time they can then make their own decisions for their lives and their healthcare options. The exception to this rule is if the children (<18 years old) are emancipated from their parents and/or are living apart from their parents and are responsible for their own welfare.”

Public HealthPublic PolicyVaccinationImmunologyChildren S HealthSaying No To VaccinesVaccines And Your ChildDoctor Patient RelationshipVaccine EpidemicVaccine Myths And Facts
Author:stephen heartland
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“Solution #1. ELIMINATE PAYOFFS IN CLINICS TO PROMOTE VACCINATIONS. It should be illegal for doctors to accept bonuses or other incentives from insurance or pharmaceutical companies for vaccinating patients. This practice is clearly a conflict of interest. When you take your child to a doctor, you want them to focus on your child and their health, and not on a yearend bonus some other company is paying to push vaccines. These bonuses/kickbacks provide a monetary incentive to the doctor and their office not related to the patient’s health, which is clearly a conflict of interest, and should be illegal. Without this bonus/kickback in their minds, perhaps the doctors can get back in the business of simply taking care of their patients, answering their questions, and providing them with better overall healthcare. If the pediatric office has no money dangling over them in the form of bonuses/kickbacks, then there should be no incentive to bar entrance to any family who wants to receive healthcare, unless the office is so full that they cannot accommodate new patients. This taking away of the bonus/kickback money will remove prejudice and bias against those who do not want to follow the recommended vaccine schedule, or who question the safety of the vaccines. And thereby, all patients will receive equal healthcare service under the law without bias. After all, isn’t this, shouldn’t this be the goal?”

ScienceMedicineHealthcarePublic HealthPublic PolicyMedical EthicsChildren S HealthSaying No To VaccinesVaccines And Your ChildDoctor Patient Relationship
Book:Louis Pasteur Condemns Big Pharma: Vaccines, Drugs, and Healthcare in the United States
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“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.”

WorldNeedsTwoWarStatesWinningGrowthUnitedClassMillionsUnited StatesEconomicMiddlePolicyAppreciateWar Of The WorldsMiddle ClassSentimentsHistorianEnginesTicketsManufacturingPublic PolicyTwo Worlds
Author:Christina Romer
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“Harvard's Kennedy School of Government asked me to serve as a fellow at its Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics, and Public Policy. After my varied and celebrated career in television, movies, publishing, and the lucrative world of corporate speaking, being a fellow at Harvard seemed, frankly, like a step down.”

WorldGovernmentSchoolStepsCareersPolicyTelevisionFellowsPressesCorporatePublishingHarvardPublic Policy
Book:Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them
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“I know that it's probably not a good idea for a comedian, especially a satirist, to support a public policy group or a politician. This is something I learned only too well years ago when I did a fundraiser for Pol Pot. A few years later I saw 'The Killing Fields,' and I've got to tell you, I just felt like a schmuck.”

KnowsYearsWellsIdeasFeltSupportSawsGroupsPolicyFieldsPoliticianYears AgoKillingComedianPotGood IdeasPublic PolicySatiristFundraiserSchmucks
Author:Al Franken
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“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.”

NeedsPlayProblemBigsGovernmentAblePolicyHugeSolutionsResearchResourcesInnovationFundCrucialComponentsBig ProblemsPublic PolicyBasic Research
Author:Bill Gates
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