Hilary Benn Quotes

Central government's such as Canada's have become too small to deal with the big global issues, yet they remain too large and distant to deal with problems of local control.

States are the architects of UDAY, not the central government.

Fiscal decentralisation does not lead to higher economic growth because economic growth is much more driven by factors other than taxes and spending, e.g. increases in technological progress and improved human capital.

That's what I think regions are about, making central government more accountable and fairer.

I happen to be one who believes very strongly that state and local governments have their proper roles.

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

as a barrier between the central government and the respective states and their citizens.

Governors would like the money to be left on a stump and let them come and pick it up and spend it where they want. Governors like to spread money around rather than target it.

Quite as serious an error [of the French] is the failure to provide for local self-government. As this lies at the bottom of republican institutions, and should be, moreover, the first concern of democracy

States know better than the federal government how to allocate and manage resources to address the needs of their people.

I believe in constructive cooperation from the central government for any development and welfare schemes for Odisha. I want to work in cooperation with them for the development of the state.

The capacity of the commonwealth government created under the local constitution to exercise governmental powers in local affairs is like that of local government in the states of the union in regard to non-federal affairs at the local level.

My party is committed to a federation.

It's not, 'We have a city to bid, now let's go check in with the federal government'.

I'm a strong supporter of states' rights to do what they need.

The Federal Government should be the last resort, not the first. Ask if a potential program is truly a federal responsibility or whether it can better be handled privately, by voluntary organizations, or by local or state governments.

What is good for Alaska is good for the country. Transferring power from the federal government to the states provides opportunity to all states, not just Alaska.

It is a fundamental principle of American law that the regulation of the local police of all the domestic affairs of a State belong to the State itself, and not to the Federal Government.

Profitable Federalism

The more responsibility you can move toward local government, the better of you're going to be … City governments do better than their State governments in terms of accountability.

Perhaps democracy should be begun at the local level first. America was many local democracies before democracy came to the national level.

States should have enormous input into the decisions that affect them.

You can’t secure the country from inside the Beltway. The Federal government has got to trust the state Attorney’s General with critical information.

… state authority should not be needlessly usurped by a centralized government. But I also believe that an obligation rests with the national government to see that the citizens of every state are treated equally.

Decentralization is always a passion of those in opposition