John Boehner Quotes

Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.

A basic tenet of a healthy democracy is open dialogue and transparency.

Our government leaders... have made many mistakes in the past when they have lost sight of the sacred American values rooted in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. We are at the brink of even graver mistakes and assaults on these values.

The fight for reform comes down to a simple goal: giving our citizens the confidence that government serves the people first and the people only.

I feel good because I believe I have made progress in rebuilding the people's trust in their government.

I believe in the greatness of our democracy.

As long as our government is administered for the good of the people, and is regulated by their will; as long as it secures to us the rights of persons and of property, liberty of conscience and of the press, it will be worth defending.

The better the information it has, the better democracy works. Silence and secrecy are never good for it.

I developed the concept of the Happy Warrior as a rallying cry for those of us who want to restore America to its great foundational principles: individual freedom, personal responsibility, fiscal restraint, and economic liberty.

I will run an open government that speaks with honesty, seeks opinion, listens to its citizens.

Democratic elections alone do not remedy the crisis of confidence in government. Moreover, there is no viable justification for a democratic system in which public participation is limited to voting.

The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness.

After all, I have spent the better part of my adult life insisting that government be open... that government be accessible... and that government be held accountable to people who voted us into office.

There can be no democracy without truth. There can be no truth without controversy, there can be no change without freedom. Without freedom there can be no progress.

What I'm thinking about more and more these days is simply the importance of transparency, and Jefferson's saying that he'd rather have a free press without a government than a government without a free press.

The American people expect and deserve a government that works and leaders who work together.

But in the end our government usually - not unfailingly - is responsive to the people; and usually - not always - will try to do what is right.

As Americans, we don't see the role of government as guaranteeing outcomes, but allowing free men and women to flourish based on their own vision, their hard work and their personal responsibility.

People want a grounded government. They want a government that's going to be responsible to them.

Open the way before the new government to prove that it is for serving the people.

It takes a long time to build democracy, to build freedom.

A government of, by and for the people is obligated to conduct the nation's business in a manner that respects dissent.

The American people need to know the truth. The American people need to see the truth. In a democracy, letting the people know the truth is the essence of what it means to be free.

The Senate floor is and always has been the great arena of our democracy. I spent eight years in my younger life as a boxer, and sometimes when I enter the chamber, I think, 'This is the ring. The American people can see us here and listen to our arguments. This is where the fights matter.'

I ask the rights to pursue happiness by having a voice in that government to which I am accountable.