Stephen Hess Quotes

The British are a people who are generally happy, under normal circumstances, to trust politicians to tell us the truth and to leave them to run the country as we get on with our lives. But we reserve the right, always, to make it clear that they are our servants, not our masters, and, when necessary, we can and will take charge.

Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.

Each age must … contend anew with the question of power and accountability.

In a democracy, power implies responsibility.

The power to investigate is a great public trust.

Democracy is not theater - it determines life and death!

Privacy is tremendously important. I believe the American people, and all people, should be skeptical of government power, should ask hard questions: What is the authority? What is the oversight? That's the way it ought to be.

If you cannot trust our leaders, you cannot govern.

Public officers are the trustees of the people.

A government that spies on people to find out what they are thinking is a government that isn’t listing to them.

I believe there's something out there watching over us. Unfortunately, it's the government

when greed and fear are linked to power, you have a dangerous mix. We see that in political life. In part of the world, the mix of greed and fear means that those who get power become reluctant to give it back. One of the many things I like and admire in our democracies are the norms that make our leaders hand over power when voters tell them to

I think the world is much more transparent now, and I think that's probably a good thing. On the other hand, I think it makes it really tough for people who are natural born leaders who could be guiding us and leading our countries.

I think it's time that we said to people who are incapable of acknowledging that they've ever got anything wrong: 'I'm sorry, you've had your day.' Unelected, unaccountable elites, I'm afraid it's time to say, 'You're fired. We are going to take back control.'

The idea of a private life has been eroded in the sphere of politics.

In a democracy there will always be a tension between security and privacy.

It's absolutely right that we scrutinise the leaders who after all are going to be in a position of great power.

Mayors are accountable. Local governments are accountable.

Even if you assume presidents were democratically elected they still have no right to keep secrets from the American people.

Democracy is like a tambourine, not everyone can be trusted with it.

If one meets a powerful person - Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates - ask them five questions: 'What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?' If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system.

In order to be respected, authority has got to be respectable.

Openness and participation are antidotes to surveillance and control.

There is a power in public opinion in this country - and I thank God for it: for it is the most honest and best of all powers - which will not tolerate an incompetent or unworthy man to hold in his weak or wicked hands the lives and fortunes of his fellow-citizens.

We have got to stop worrying about being loved and start worrying about being respected. And that's exactly how I'll lead our country.