James Bovard Quotes

We have the incredible privilege of serving in the highest offices in the state. We must prove ourselves worthy of our fellow citizens' faith. We must be trusted to always place the public's good above our own and to always choose fairness over favoritism.

If there's anything a public servant hates to do it's something for the public.

People are entitled to believe the government is constantly lying to them, but it isn't.

Public service used to be the highest of callings, until people like Madame Voldemort vilified it.

I mean those people who are interested in good government will certainly contribute in order to make certain there's some counter-balance to those whose interests in good government is less.

Look, all administrations, all governments lie, all officials lie and nothing they say is to be believed. That's a pretty good rule.

It has been my philosophy all my life that good government is good politics.

I long for the time when the public service will get onto a higher plane than that of serving political parties, and come to serve the public interest instead.

I've always had a kind of knee-jerk trust in my Government's basic integrity, whatever political blunders it may make. But I've come to realize that in Washington, deceiving and manipulating the public are viewed by some as the natural prerogatives of office.

The very essence of a free government consists in considering offices as public trusts, bestowed for the good of the country, and not for the benefit of an individual or party.

I work for the British people. I do not gather intelligence so the government can lie to the British people.

It's my father's legacy. My father's view was that the public is the employer of these government employees and has the right to know what they're up to.

The responsibility for good government lies not just with governments themselves but also with every other part of the system they operate in, including media, non-governmental organisations and the public.

A people can prosper under a very bad government and suffer under a very good one, if in the first case the local administration is effective and in the second it is inefficient.

You can't blame anyone for being cynical about politicians.

I don't think people maybe think that the government does tell them the truth. I think they expect politicians who are going to tell them one thing and then when they get in office do something else.

The pressure of special interests, the demands of special sections of the state, the needs of friends, all must be subordinated to the good of the people as a whole.

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

I think President Obama is trying to deceive the public in pretending that he was not a part of Congress that has made some decisions in the past that got us to where we are today.

Let's just do what is right for the American people. And those of us who are involved in politics and government know that our responsibility is to the American people, that we have a responsibility to find our common ground, to seek it and to find it.

I propose a Constitutional Amendment providing that, if any public official, elected or appointed, at any level of government, is caught lying to any member of the public for any reason, the punishment shall be death by public hanging.

This is a generation weaned on Watergate, and there is no presumption of innocence and no presumption of good intentions. Instead, there is a presumption that, without relentless scrutiny, the government will misbehave.

Congress is full of good, decent, smart people who have devoted their lives to public service.

Stand up and pledge with me: A government of the United States is not on the auction block. And America is not for sale!

One of these days the people of Louisiana are going to get good government - and they aren't going to like it.