Van Jones Quotes

Opposition will act as an outward conscience and prevent the abuse of power.

Some people are in positions of power, and when incentives go haywire, we are all human and it's easy to make mistakes. I am not saying everybody is Bernie Madoff.

The police force cannot be completely independent of the executive government.

The difference between a democracy and other forms of government is not that in a democracy bad things do not happen. The difference is that in a democracy something will be done about it and someone will be held to account.

Those who have more power are liable to sin more; no theorem in geometry is more certain than this.

An obvious precaution against the corruption of power is to divide the government.

A dominion then, whose well-being depends on any man's good faith, and whose affairs cannot be properly administered, unless those who are engaged in them will act honestly, will be very unstable. On the contrary, to insure its permanence, its public affairs should be so ordered, that those who administer them, whether guided by reason or passion, cannot be led to act treacherously or basely.

Counter-corruption agencies cannot make a difference unless they are independent of the government actors they are supposed to monitor, restrain, and punish.

Absolute power should never be trusted to man. It has perverted the wisest heads, and corrupted the best hearts in the world. I should be afraid to commit my property, liberty and life to a body of angels for one whole year.

You don't have to destroy an entire industry to rid it of corruption.

What compelled me about the story of Chernobyl more than anything else was something very universal. Yes, Chernobyl happened because in many ways, the Soviet system was deeply corrupt and evil, but the Soviet system did not arrive to us from some other planet. It was devised by humans.

It's true that robust governance structures, checks and balances, transparency of markets, directionally leads to... less vulnerability to corruption.

And because it may be too great a temptation to human frailty, apt to grasp at power, for the same persons, who have the power of making laws, to have also in their hands the power to execute them, whereby they may exempt themselves from obedience to the laws they make, and suit the law, both in its making, and execution, to their own private advantage.

To further promote anti-corruption efforts, we need to insist on the successful experiences gained through the Party's long-term anti-corruption practice. We need to actively draw on effective practices conducted by foreign countries around the world, and our own valuable heritage.

There's an enormous amount of corruption, and as one American adviser put it to me, "The police in Afghanistan are thugs. We equip them, we train them, and now they are equipped and trained thugs."

Law enforcement officials cannot place themselves above the law that they are sworn to defend.

The most personal thing I've put in [Touch of Evil] is my hatred of the abuse of police power. It's better to see a murderer go free than for a policeman to abuse his power.

No officer should be allowed to behave as if they are above the law, just because they are responsible for upholding the law.

When a leader encourages the culture of impunity, the society is lost and it makes the work harder for the rest of us.

Surveillance of power is one of the most important ways to ensure that power does not abuse its status. But, of course, power does not like to be watched.

Democracy cannot breathe, indeed will die, if those enjoined to protect it and uphold the laws snuff it out - with no consequences.

The accountability of government has gone to the point where the very use of the law is the instrument of illegality.

The Corrupt should be tied to a rock & thrown into the sea

One of the keys to ensuring accountability is to have civil servants who witness fraud, waste and abuse to blow the whistle.

Democracy and dependence on the military and police are incompatible.