Erik Prince Quotes

Our constituents did not send us to Washington to shut down the government. They sent us here to make it more accountable.

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 post office actually achieves its mission. I wish we could say the same of the CIA.

Montanans elected me to the Senate to do away with shady backroom deals and to make government work better.

With the consent of the people, I will seek to continue service in Congress for the well-being of our state and our nation.

I will keep working with both parties in the House to get things done for people in our District.

The people we send to Washington have to roll up their sleeves, stop the fighting, and work together on issues that are not political, not partisan, but personal to families across our state and our nation.

I know that for most people, seeing is believing when it comes to government efficiency.

If I am traitor, who did I betray? I gave all my information to the American public, to American journalists who are reporting on American issues. If they see that as treason, I think people really need to consider who they think they're working for. The public is supposed to be their boss, not their enemy.

My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration. Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.

I do not desire to be Minister of England; but while I am Minister of England I will hold office by no servile tenure; I will hold office unshackled by any other obligation than that of consulting the public interests and providing for the public safety.

In a democracy threatened by excessive secrecy and the criminalizing of news gathering, the more sunlight the better.

Whistleblowing by government employees is an act if courage and patriotism.

Americans have a right to know what is being done in their name…. These cables tell the unvarnished story of how the government makes its biggest decisions.

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.

In the name of national security, the Commission’s hearings were held in secret, thereby continuing the policy which has marked the entire course of the case. This prompts my second question: If, as we are told, Oswald was the lone assassin, where is the issue of national security? Indeed, precisely the same question must be put here as was posed in France during the Dreyfus case: If the Government is so certain of its case, why has it conducted all its inquiries in the strictest secrecy?

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

All of us can agree that we want government to work as well as possible, and we should all applaud efforts to improve it. But there is no escaping the divisive and essential questions: What is the purpose of the state, and whom does it serve?

There was a time when the United States government earned the trust of its people. There was a time when most people believed that the United States government was protecting them.

We need elected officials who overcome partisan politics to really help people.

If you have faith in the public sector, as I do, you must be the harshest critic of corruption, waste and fraud in government.

I think it's always easy to be sympathetic to parts of the government in detail; in their concrete manifestations. Because obviously, we don't have government for no reason.

People should look at the government as 'us,' not as 'them' and not in terror.

My purpose is to call on my colleagues, whether they're Republicans or Democrats, to get behind the agenda of trying to reform the government and make it work for the people rather than the other way around.

Congressional overseers and the public must be given appropriate insight into government activities as well as their legal rationale to ensure America's values are being upheld and our interests advanced.