Policy Solutions Quotes

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.

I have never been a believer that serious government problems are solved by reorganization or shifting around bureaucracy.

Good politics starts with empathy, proceeds to analysis, then sets out values and establishes the vision, before getting to the nitty-gritty of policy solutions.

That's what you've got to be to be an MP: a problem solver. How can I help you? How can I engage? What do you need?

Politicians of all stripes are always in danger at looking at every problem from an abstract point of view or being briefed by officials, academics, or economists who know every science but the science of human nature.

Bill Clinton and Barack Obama represented somewhat different party factions, but they both embodied wonkery, a vision of competence and expertise governing to some extent above ideology, in which there are assumed to be 'correct answers' to policy dilemmas that a disinterested observer could acknowledge and the right technocrat achieve.

One cannot legislate problems out of existence. It has been tried.

Some amount of support from government and regulator is required when you are looking at resolving systemic issues.

I know it may be hard to imagine given how broken and gridlocked our politics truly are, but from the White House to, yes, Congress, the government is filled with hard-working, idealistic public servants working incredibly hard on tough issues, trying to make people's lives better and move the country, and our world, forward.

No easy problems ever come to the President. If they are easy to solve, somebody else has solved them.

I didn't need to be speaker because I needed a fancy title or a big office. I wanted to be speaker so I could lead an effort to deal with the serious issues that are facing our country.

The vice president can play a real role in that, in helping solve some of the biggest problems in the country.

When I originally went into government early in my career, it was because I was interested in finding ways to help people by finding policy solutions that would help people. And what's amazing about Facebook is that we're able to use our platform to help people, too.

America deserves a real discussion about real policy.

If you want a senator who'll partner with the president to do what's best for the nation, I'm your guy.

It is our job above all in politics to tackle the big issues and to explain them, and have the honesty to say to people, 'There are no easy solutions here.'

This is bad for policy-making - if you cover up the problems, how can you solve them? It also corrodes public trust. Government must be much more honest about the challenges facing the country, if we are to begin to tackle them. Short-term spin must give way to proper long-term strategic thinking.

Everybody runs for political office knocking somebody, and very few run on 'This is what I stand for. This is what I believe will solve these problems.'

Politicians must be simple and clear about how their ideas will serve the national cause. We can no longer use the complexity of today's problems as an excuse for inaction, rhyme or rhetoric that does not meet the challenges before us.

The Citizen's Petition reflects Vermont's spirit of pragmatism and across-the-board cooperation. I applaud the 'Campaign to Fix the Debt' for calling attention to one of the country's most pressing problems, our ballooning national debt, and for urging policymakers to find practical solutions.

The thing that differs me from a lot of other people running for the President of the United States is that I focus on the problem first. Then I focus on what the solution is.

The challenge is not to replace Obama but with who. It's not enough to just change up the uniform, if we don't change the team and the game plan, we won't save our country.

I had hoped to hear the President tonight tell the Congress and the American people exactly how he plans to tackle some of the important issues facing this country, unfortunately I did not.

Rather than making loose and unsubstantiated claims that Obama and Clinton created ISIS, it would behoove Trump if he advanced some real policy ideas about how to solve the Syrian and Iraqi civil wars. Of course, to do that he would have to get beyond the inflammatory slogans and sound bites that have characterized his campaign.

Finally, I want to make the point that we are Republicans. We are the majority. It is going to be a little more difficult because we have to govern and come up with ideas.