[I see five] catalysts for modernizing our government for a new century.
Create incentives to collaborate. By engaging in regional collaboration for the delivery of services, governments can reap significant savings without sacrificing quality. Do
neighboring communities really need separate mass transit systems? Or separate waste collection services?
Demand performance and accountability. Improve harmony and performance by more clearly defining the roles of state and local government.
Performance-based education. Get money directly into the classroom by giving greater operating flexibility to every local school building.
A Top-To-Bottom Scrub of Government. We need to search and destroy regulations and programs that have outlived
their usefulness; and establish performance-based management for state government.
Expand e-government. Web portals for all levels of government will make it easier for citizens to access services and reduce the cost of goods the government buys.
Source: State of the State Address
Jan 31, 2001
Common sense over “government sense”
There is a big difference between common sense and what I call “government sense.” For decades now we have seen the federal government gathering more and more power into its grasp. For 50 years we have seen a federal government who thought it could do a
better job when it came to running our states, to running our schools, to running our businesses, and to running our personal lives. What has happened in those 50 years? We have seen crime go up, respect for authority go down, more families breaking up,
and a government that does not pay its bills. It’s a good thing they have been telling us what to do, right? Perhaps the one good thing to come out of this experiment will be the conviction that it is time to start moving away from government sense back
to common sense.
The welfare system is a perfect example of what I refer to as government sense. When you pay people not to work and to have children out of wedlock, guess what happens? People do not work and they have more children out of wedlock.
Source: United We Stand America Conference, p.204-5
Aug 12, 1995
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