Political Quotes

“Those are the remarks I would like to make, sir. I have the confidence that John Deutch, as a scientist, will follow them. I have the concern that the administration will not. We do know some things in social science. Mancur Olson, in his great book, ``The Rise and Decline of Nations,'' on this day, V-E Day--I was a sailor on V-E Day, so I can remember that--I can remember the Boston Common, actually-- Mancur Olson asked: Why has it come about that the two nations whose institutions were destroyed in World War II, Germany and Japan, have had the most economic success since? Whereas Britain--not really much success at all; the United States-- yes, but.'' And he came up with a simple answer. The defeat wiped out all those choke points, all those rents, all those sharing agreements, all those veto structures that enable institutions to prevent things from happening. And we are seeing it in this Government today, 5 years after the wall came down. Remember, 2 years before the wall came down the CIA stated that per capita GDP was higher in East Germany than in West Germany. I hope I take no liberty that I mentioned this once to Dr. Deutch and added ``Any taxi driver in Berlin could have told you that was not so.'' And Dr. Deutch replied, ``Any taxi driver in Washington.'' But if we cannot summon the capacity to change our institutions in our changed circumstances, there will be consequences and let nobody say they were not predictable.”