Ron Dellums Quotes

I think whenever something is - whenever there's something that affects the public good, then there does need to be some form of public oversight.

So there's always been this clash between what is the public good - that which belongs to all of us in common - and what can be exploited for a private interest.

Government is a trust, and the officers of the government are trustees; and both the trust and trustees are created for the benefit of the public.

The stock of materials by which any nation is rendered flourishing and prosperous are its industry, its knowledge or skill, its morals, its execution of justice, its courage, and the national union in directing these powers to one point and making them all center in the public benefit.

It's all about the choices we make as a society. We can choose to have poor schools and parks and higher tuition at Rhode Island's colleges. But we should make an active choice.

Anything that benefits the public and not just big banking, that's what I'm with.

I try to persuade people to act in ways that are not only in their own interest, but in the interest of society at large.

My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them.

A public office is not a job, it is an opportunity to do something for the public.

I carefully evaluated every single document I disclosed to ensure that each was legitimately in the public interest. There are all sorts of documents that would have made a big impact that I didn't turn over, because harming people isn't my goal. Transparency is.

If I can't do something for the public good, what the hell am I doing?

I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good.

It is a lucky thing that newspaper reporters do not attend these meetings. If they did, they would see how little our activities are related to the real needs of society.

Everyone thinks chiefly of his own, hardly ever of the public interest.

When efforts are made to shape policy based on budgets rather than the public good, then the needs of the people will not be met.

The notion that a business is clothed with a public interest and has been devoted to the public use is little more than a fiction intended to beautify what is disagreeable to the sufferers.

The public interest is more than the sum total of the interest groups.

Government needs to be formed by people, and run by people, for the benefit of people.

With Government funding comes regulation.

Get people to think about the benefits of government rather than taxes.

The supreme inspiration is the common weal.

If you have faith in the public sector, as I do, you must be the harshest critic of corruption, waste and fraud in government.

When a donor is asked to contribute to a group whose innocuous-sounding name makes it appear to be doing work in the public interest, that donor should have a clear picture of where his or her money is going.

Tax dollars go to projects that have little or nothing to do with the public good things like fruit fly research in Paris, France. I kid you not.

Upon the principles of reason, the good of many is preferable to the good of a few or of one; a lasting good is to be preferred before a temporary, the public before the private.