Phil Murphy Quotes

Forget the consultants, the pundits and the pollsters; good policy is good politics.

Sustainability is a very tough thing in our government because there are so many different competing priorities.

From my perspective, we as a nation need to make policy a priority and drive the politics as a result of good policy.

The American people deserve long-term, forward-thinking policies.

It is our task to provide policies suited to the different situations of today.

Democracies are expense-averse and they think in terms of short-term, political interests rather than a long-term interest in stability.

What we have achieved is a good example of how the right policies deliver.

One of the hardest things in politics is getting a democracy to deal with something now where the payoff is long term or the price of inaction is decades away.

Growth is not the end-all-goal of politics, but it is one of the most compelling deliverables.

Certainly the policy is right and good politics usually follow good policy.

Government is about hard choices.

The country is carried comfortably down the river, and the function of Government is to occasionally put out an oar to prevent running into the bank.

It has proved politically wiser to set goals than to start programs.

Politics is economics in action.

There is something wrong with the way in which we make our decisions. The Government listen too much to the pollsters and the party managers. The trouble is that they are not even very good at politics, and they are entering too much into policy decisions. As a result, there is too much short-termism, too much reacting to events, and not enough shaping of events. We give the impression of being in office but not in power. Far too many important decisions are made for 36 hours' publicity.

The division of responsibility between economics and politics is indeed one of the most difficult dilemmas with which we are confronted. "Give me a sound economic position, and I will pursue a sound policy", says the Statesman. "How can I pursue a sound policy", says the Economist, "if you do not give me a sound political position?”

The issue is not that morals be applied to public policy, it's that conservatives bring public policy to spheres of our lives where it should not enter.

Politics is about making institutions work somewhat better, helping people’s lives at the margins

How do we build an intelligent plan for growth over decades while responding to citizen’s immediate demands for less inequality and more opportunity. We must do both.

Government has a rightful role, but not an excessive role, to play.

The benefits of globalization do not trickle down automatically. It takes politics to make sure that there is a benefit.

The phrase 'private option' itself has become politically toxic.

Instead of incentivizing quick, short-term decisions, the federal government should be asking the tough questions when governments turn over publicly funded transportation assets to for-profit operators.

The more aspects of life that can be moved from private reign to public realm, the better it is for politics.

The problem is that once we focus on economic policy, much that is not science comes into play. Politics becomes involved, and political posturing is amply rewarded by public attention.