Peter Singer Quotes

Ever since I arrived in Washington in April 2009, I have been fighting for more transparency and accountability in government.

And one of the things I've tried to do in my first months in office is to give more Georgians - reporters and members of the general public alike - a closer look at how their government works.

Obama has already rejected the bright sunlight of public knowledge, which is democracy's great disinfectant and cure.

Remarkably, governments are beginning to embrace the idea that nothing enhances democracy more than giving voice and information to everybody in the country. Why not open their books if they have nothing to hide?

Access to government-held information allows citizens to hold their government accountable for policy decisions and public expenditures…. Access to information bridges the gap between state and society ….

We are world leaders in open and transparent government.

The more government transparency, the better.

Transparency in government, no less than transparency in choosing government, remains a vital national interest in a democracy.

If you believe in democracy, why shouldn't you know what the government is doing?

Government must be a transparent garment which tightly clings to the people's body.

I will run an open government that speaks with honesty, seeks opinion, listens to its citizens.

The movement towards radical transparency and accountability has been gaining steam for several decades.

I want to make sure we are presenting to the South Australian people a Government that is open and accountable. I want to make sure that we maintain public confidence in government at all levels.

Why does the White House sometimes seem so determined to close the door on the people's right to know what their government is doing?

You’re doing the people’s business and they have a right to know.

Open government’ must not be sacrificed on the altar of bureaucratic secrecy.

… a guarantee of public access to government information is indispensable in the long run for any democratic society.... if officials make public only what they want citizens to know, then publicity becomes a sham and accountability meaningless.

The government being the people’s business, it necessarily follows that its operations should be at all times open to public view.

I want my government to be transparent.

Obama's openness is a welcome change from his predecessor, who went all the way to the Supreme Court to hide the RSVP list for a single policy meeting. And transparency is intrinsically good, since in a democracy, very little government activity is legitimately secret.

After Barack Obama won the 2008 presidential election, I was heartened to see him issue an Open Government Initiative on his first full day in office.

I promised to run the most open and transparent administration in Britain. That is why, with this brutally honest and unprecedented progress report, I am determined to level with Londoners.

I believe transparency in government is key to restoring our nation's faith in its elected leaders.

We should be able to go to our government and get clear answers.

To restore the trust of the people, we must reform the way the government operates.