Wen Jiabao Quotes

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.

Those communal areas have got elected municipalities, which have got to do their work as, as fully, democratically elected municipal councils.

It is through states that the American people get the job done every day, often in spite of a deeply flawed bureaucratic federal government.

Democracy cannot be a plaything for the capital cities. It has to infiltrate every nook and cranny in the country, including the village.

The first lesson in civics is that efficient government begins at home.

In today's society a zoning commissioner or a tax assessor can have far greater impact on personal liberty than a president.

Devolution [decentralization of government] cannot stop at the State House. It must go down to City Hall.

Each county elector makes his own rules

The value of democracy lies in the fact that good or bad government has its roots in the localities where people know each other and where they account for their actions to their neighbors.

I hope that we increasingly shift power to local governments.

The White House is not where power comes from in this country. The cities and the local communities of this nation are prepared to save Washington - and not vice versa.

I've always believed in local government.

I was previously the chairman of the Jurong East Town Council and South West CDC.

I said I wanted to lay the foundation for my governance and that included building relations with the City Council, with bureau directors, making sure we had the right leaders in place, making sure we're communicating with community groups that have an interest in of policymaking. I feel that we did that.

If you want to govern the nation, you should first be able to govern San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles.

A city is in many respects a great business corporation, but in other respects it is enlarged housekeeping. ... may we not say that city housekeeping has failed partly because women, the traditional housekeepers, have not been consulted as to its multiform activities?

You can have very big local government. By big, I mean very engaged government. Do you measure it in terms of the number of laws? Number of employees? You could make arguments for either one. I tend to think the axis of the size of government is the wrong concern. But I do think that situating power more locally is a legitimate approach.

There are big questions about the sort of skills you need in modern government today. You put politicians in charge of billions of dollars with absolutely no training and very little support system around them. It's an extraordinary thing.

The Parish makes the constable, and when the constable is made, he governs the Parish.

Being the mayor of your hometown is the best job in America, partly because it's relatively nonpartisan - we focus on results, not ideology.

We need to make sure that the ANC branches are strong, that they can lead the communities we live in.

A president's power is limited. We need to vote down the ballot as well, from your councilman all the way up to your governors and congressman.

Mayors, city council members, and legislators come and go, but neighborhoods don't go anywhere.

One of my philosophies is that citizens are the mayor... so we have citizens play an integral role in making policies and implementing them.

Mayors are really good at dealing with things practically.