Rich Turner Quotes

In the rush to become all things to all people, the federal government has lost sight of its core responsibilities. As a result we're stuck in this frustrating paradox where Washington actually neglects things it's clearly supposed to be doing, while interfering in other areas where they are neither welcome nor authorized.

The major functions of the government are … operated by deeply embedded, hopelessly entangled bureaus where nothing is accomplished because the function of the bureau is to intercept every living idea and smother it.

Should bureaucratic ways prevail and paper reign supreme? Should red tape and the Status Quo become our nation’s dream?

Washington is not a geographical entity, it is a state of mind.... People understand how Cleveland works. They even understand how New York City works, but they can't figure Washington out.

When they talk about belt-tightening in Washington, they are talking about tightening our belts.

We have an illness in France which bids fair to play havoc with us; this illness is called bureaumania [Often translated as bureaucracy.]

Presidents may go to the seashore or to the mountains. Cabinet officers may go about the country explaining how fortunate the country is in having such an administration, but the machinery at Washington continues to operate under the army of faithful non-commissioned officers, and the great mass of governmental business is uninterrupted.

CIA is slowly turning into the Department of Agriculture. The agency has an advanced case of bureaucratic arteriosclerosis.

In the absence of a crisis, the status quo in Washington is more or less set in cement, as advocacy groups and turf-conscious government officials are able to thwart change.

Bureaucracy is a giant mechanism operated by pygmies.

The only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is its inefficiency.

Nothing symbolizes American strength and vigor more than another unaccountable Washington bureaucrat.

People need to understand that in Washington, the process is the punishment.

Ohio's doing what it can do, but I wish they'd get their act together in Washington.

I've lived in Washington now for 44 years, and that's a lot of folly to witness up close. Whatever confidence and optimism I felt towards the central government when I got here on January 1, 1970 has pretty much dissipated at the hands of the government.

Administrators are another curious consequence of a bureaucracy which has forgotten its reason for being

It’s more difficult to get people on board at the Federal level than it is locally.

We both got caught on making a bureaucracy work on things that were much bigger than that which they had ever worked on.

Common sense is not all that common in Washington DC.

The bureaucracy is what we all suffer from..

Federal bureaucracies are creatures of Congress, not the executive.

Everybody always wants more staff. That’s why the federal government gets so overloaded.

In every society the permanent government is more change averse than the changing government.

Government and business should remain distinct and separate, one directed from Washington, the other from New York.

There is now a recognition that there are three sovereigns in this country, and they are the Federal Government, the state governments and the tribal governments.