James Howard Kunstler Quotes

Any government, of whatever composition, needs to mobilise opinion way beyond its own ranks in order to do the difficult things that it does.

In government, consensus is more important than command; persuasion not only works better than arrogance, it's vital to the democratic process.

If you can’t bring the people with you, you lose the policy

I don't think we do a great job in America any more of distinguishing between campaigns and governance. We live in an environment that's all campaign all of the time and it's helpful, now that we've moved beyond a campaign and an election to get into a governance posture.

We are apt to say that a foreign policy is successful only when the country, or at any rate the governing class, is united behind it. In reality, every line of policy is repudiated by a section, often by an influential section, of the country concerned. A foreign minister who waited until everyone agreed with him would have no foreign policy at all.

The prime minister's job is to captain his team, his party and his government.

It is often noted that it can be hard for democracies to fight wars because of changing public opinion.

If the political will is there, we can solve anything.

To rebuild this country will take a long time but we have the mandate and the people support us.

In the same way we have a long-term plan for building roads, we have to have a long term plan to build transit.

Democratic government consists of listening, deciding, persuading.

Governments never lead; they follow progress

To some extent, it is [that] everybody is resistant to change. Today, you’d be hard-pressed to find anybody that was opposed to the smoking ban … All of Western Europe followed New York City. Many of the states around here did. Every major city, including in the tobacco-growing states in the United States, did. Brazil is smoke-free. Mexico City is smoke-free. All of France, Italy, Spain, England—they’re all smoke-free. It takes a while. Leadership is about doing what you think is right and then building a constituency behind it. It is not doing a poll and following from the back. If you want to criticize the political process—and it’s probably true throughout history, and certainly not just in the United States—I think it’s fair to say, in business or in government, an awful lot of leaders follow the polls.

The question of our time is rapidly becoming can government get things done?

I've taken firm positions on issues the voters care about, and I will get my positions implemented.

Congress needs to step up. Congress needs to do their job, and Congress needs to do their job now.

President Obama is coming under criticism now for not meeting with his jobs council. He hasn't met with his jobs council in over six months. You know the reason Obama hasn't met with his job council in six months? They're all out looking for jobs.

It's a supporting role, and I relish the opportunity to take those relationships I've developed, the experiences I've developed, to carry the president's agenda to our nation's capital, to leaders there, but also to leaders in state capitals around America.

We have moved from an age in which government leaders sought to do what was best for the people to one in which the political leadership is convinced it knows what is best for the people, whether they like it or not.

In America, we happen to be living in a third world country from the point of view of economic and social development. I came back from New York yesterday and I took the fastest train in the country, the Acela. My wife and I took the New York-Boston train sixty years ago - it wasn't called the Acela then - and I think it's improved by about fifteen minutes since then. Any other country in the world would be about half the time. In fact when it's riding along the Connecticut turnpike it's barely keeping up with traffic, which is just scandalous.

An election is an opportunity for a new consensus.

I genuinely believe the next leader has to be somebody who sees the opportunity of leaving the EU and is completely determined to deliver on what the people have told us to do.

One of the things that you learn, having been in this [President's] office for four years, is the old adage of Abraham Lincoln's. That with public opinion there's nothing you can't do and without public opinion there's very little you can get done.

The acid test of politics is not what you say at the hustings, but what you actually do in government.

Democracy's worst fault is that its leaders are likely to reflect the faults and virtues of their constituents.