Mercedes Schlapp Quotes

I am hostile to the idea that collective solutions have to be made by committees and then imposed top-down. I very much prefer bottom-up solutions.

The White House is not where power comes from in this country. The cities and the local communities of this nation are prepared to save Washington - and not vice versa.

No more top-down politics with Westminster dictating what's right for every community. We must all be partners in designing a better future for our country.

All things being equal, letting people make decisions for themselves will produce smarter outcomes, collectively, than relying on government planners.

I am often reminded that the wellspring of Vermont liberty flows from Main Street, not State Street.

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 believe in decentralized democracy.

I think it is time for a radical federalism in this country, where people trust innovation coming from the local level and ramp that up.

People have the most control over their affairs at the grass-roots level. Anything that can be fairly and efficiently handled at a grass-roots level should be thus handled, and only delegated to a higher authority when necessary.

What we have ignored is what citizens can do and the importance of real involvement of the people versus just having somebody in Washington make a rule.

What we have ignored is what citizens can do and the importance of real involvement of the people involved - versus just having somebody in Washington make a rule.

I often say that Arizonans should decide what's best for Arizona.

I think a lot of things could be handled locally.

I think that any program that's born from below rather than on high is going to survive.

Throughout my political career, I've believed in the concept of home rule. Some call it local control. Whichever phrase you use, the concept is the same - the best decisions are those made closest to those who will be impacted by the decisions.

Primarily, we need to change 100 years of thinking, where we try to extend the promise of American life by moving things to Washington, and let's move it the other way: less of Washington, more from ourselves.

Turmoil is everywhere, and the whole world is waiting for solutions to come from the top down. That's not how it works - community change from the bottom up makes a real difference.

Devolution [decentralization of government] cannot stop at the State House. It must go down to City Hall.

The moment responsibilities of any community, particularly in economic and social questions, are shifted from any part of the nation to Washington, then that community has subjected itself to a remote bureaucracy.... It has lost ... control of its own destiny.

Where there is only a national representative government without local self-government, there is no liberty as we understand it

To enable consensus politics to develop we need to empower people where they live. This means devolving financial resources and political power down to the community level. One of the greatest blocks to movement is fear. This fear can only be removed when people feel their voices are being heard by government and when they have a say in their own lives and communities.

what I love about city government is that the citizens can create whatever kind of city they're willing to build.

Democracy must be internally generated. You cannot force it from the top - it's not going to work.

I hope that we increasingly shift power to local governments.

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.