Lamar Alexander Quotes

I think a lot of things could be handled locally.

We've really got to stop looking to Washington to fix our problems. It obviously doesn't have the ability to do that. People who are successful are not successful because of the president.

The answer to many of the domestic problems we face is not higher taxes and more spending. It is less waste, more results and greater freedom for the individual American to earn a rightful place in his own community - and for States and localities to address their own needs in their own ways, in the light of their own priorities.

Republicans believe that problems are best solved at the level closest to the people and that the nation's strength comes from the diversity of its people, not from an all-powerful central government.

The inherent purpose of American government is let people seek their own goals and to encourage them to be responsible on the various adventures they have on their way to those goals, good, bad, and otherwise.

We stand up and proudly proclaim that Washington is not our caretaker and we reject a state, in Margaret Thatcher's words, a state that takes too much from us to do too much for us.

People are probably going to realize they can live with a lot less government than what they thought they needed.

As conservatives, we know our principles, and we also know the best ideas do not always come from Washington.

I would support a devolution of power out of Washington for education, health care, transportation.

Sometimes people need a kick in the pants to get them to do what they would be doing if government weren't there as a perpetual parent.

I believe in small government and people taking care of themselves.

Texans can run Texas without the federal government telling them what to do.

We need to allow people to bypass government... to look to themselves for solving problems rather than asking the government to do things for them.

We need a president willing to embrace the idea that Washington is not the answer to all, or even most, of our problems, regardless of who is in charge.

My campaign is based upon the proposition that the answers to the problems which currently plague our cities, our towns, and our homes, are not to be found in the decisions in Washington. They are instead to be found in the hearts, minds and resources of our own people here at home.

I find it perfectly consistent for libertarians to operate on the municipal or county level, where they are close to the people and where they may have a party or a federation that is made up of the social institutions, the residual social institutions that still remain, over and beyond what the State has managed to preempt and absorb.

Government can't completely take care of people by making a bunch of promises and programs. Organize your communities

No, our greatness does not come from our government.

I don't think the federal government should be a part of everything. I think that governing should be done state-by-state... so that you can tailor your governing to the people's needs.

Government is to point you in the right direction, and not to do everything for you.

We have to allow people in the states to make their own decisions, to get government agencies out of the way and let local people make decisions about what's best for them.

I don't believe in politics. I'm an anarchist, I guess you could say. I think people could be just fine looking after themselves.

I think he should let me run Ohio. He should let us, the legislature, the members there, we should be running Ohio. The states are the laboratories out here, and I think the president needs to mind to the problems that he has in Washington.

As Americans, we don't see the role of government as guaranteeing outcomes, but allowing free men and women to flourish based on their own vision, their hard work and their personal responsibility.

Our founders insisted that protecting the states' power to govern themselves was vital to limit the power of Washington and preserve freedom.