Ronald Reagan Quotes

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

The more government transparency, the better.

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

Secrecy and a free, democratic government don't mix.

Access to presidential materials should be as wide as possible.

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?

In order to encourage the free interchange of opinion and the enlightenment of the public, every Swedish subject shall have free access to official documents.

The overarching purpose of access to information legislation … is to facilitate democracy. It does so in two related ways. It helps to ensure first, that citizens have the information required to participate meaningfully in the democratic process, and secondly, that politicians and bureaucrats remain accountable to the citizenry.

… 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.

We are world leaders in open and transparent government.

The American people deserve their government to be open and accountable.

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.

The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy, but the best weapon of a democracy should be the weapon of openness.

After all, I have spent the better part of my adult life insisting that government be open... that government be accessible... and that government be held accountable to people who voted us into office.

To restore and keep the public's confidence in the integrity of their government, state government and its officials must be open, honest and transparent.

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

The very word 'secrecy' is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings.

And this week, I am proposing legislation to strengthen our Open Records laws to make public access to our public records surer, faster, and more comprehensive.

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?

The people have the right to know what their Agents are doing or have done, and it should not be in the option of the Legislature to conceal their proceedings.

Can the public business be thus transacted and in secret?

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.

Our government cannot function cloaked in secrecy. It cannot function unless officials tell the truth.