Bob Rae

Bob Rae
We do not yet have a politics that is equal to the economics around us.

Robert Keith "Bob" Rae, PC, OC, OOnt, QC, MP (born August 2, 1948) is a Canadian politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre and sits in the Canadian House of Commons as the Liberal opposition's foreign affairs critic. He currently serves as Canadian Permanent Representative to the United Nations under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Quotes

The Three Questions - Prosperity and the Public Good (1998)

• As I grow older, I have had to discard some ideas and policies because they no longer make sense. This strikes me as entirely healthy. I would invite others to do the same.
  • Preface, p. ix
• Change is the cliché of our time. It also happens to be the prevailing truth.
  • Chapter One, The Rabbi's Three Questions, p. 3
• " many on the right confuse the "is" of globalization with the "ought" of simply accepting all its effects. They preach a political quietism that is really just a cloak for greed.
  • Chapter One, The Rabbi's Three Questions, p. 7
• The emergence of the market model in Eastern Europe, Africa, Latin America, and Asia is no accident. It is not the product of a corporate conspiracy. It is the consequence of hard lessons learned from cold experience.
  • Chapter Two, The First Question: Self Interest and Prosperity, p. 21

Self-interest is a necessary but hardly a sufficient basis for a decent society.

• The premise of neo-conservatives is that markets left to their own devices will produce the best possible result, and that political interference is not required. This defies the human reality that people are not commodities, and simply refuse to behave as if they were.
  • Chapter Two, The First Question: Self Interest and Prosperity, p. 39-40
• We do not yet have a politics that is equal to the economics around us.
  • Chapter Two, The First Question: Self Interest and Prosperity, p. 40
• History has only ended for those caught inside the Marxist hothouse. For the rest of us the argument is just getting interesting.
  • Chapter Three, The End of Government?, p. 54
• To suggest that the global market-place of the twenty first century there will be no role for the state and the public sector is clearly nonsense.
  • Chapter Four, Self-Interest and the Public Interest: Taxes, Debts, and Deficits, p. 64
• Self-interest is a necessary but hardly a sufficient basis for a decent society.
  • Chapter Four, Self-Interest and the Public Interest: Taxes, Debts, and Deficits, p. 86
• The major cuts in federal and provincial transfers to social service agencies, health care, education, and social housing over the past several years have not bee matched by an explosion in private giving. Nor will they ever be.
  • Chapter Five, The Second Question: Charity and Welfare-The Old Debate Is New Again,, p. 91
• Like sailors, we cannot change the weather or the direction of the wind. But we change the direction of our sails.
  • Chapter Five, The Second Question: Charity and Welfare-The Old Debate Is New Again, p. 95
• Governments steer better than they row.
  • Chapter Five, The Second Question: Charity and Welfare-The Old Debate Is New Again, p. 98
• " Angry teachers can defeat governments,"
  • Chapter Six, The Second Question: Health, Education, and the Democratic Economy, p. 121

Politics is about the persuasion required to move people to judgement.

• We spend the vast bulk of money in the health, welfare, and education systems in the later years of life. Yet it is in the earliest years that life chances are moulded and set.
  • Chapter Six, The Second Question: Health, Education, and the Democratic Economy, p. 124
• Constitutions do not emerge perfectly formed from the brain of the philosopher king, as Mr. Trudeau himself discovered in 1980 and 1981. They are always messy processes that are easier to knock down or tear apart than they are to construct.
  • Chapter Seven, The Three Questions and the Question of Canada, p. 158
• The idea of politics is in need of defence.
  • Chapter Eight, The Need For Politics, p. 167
• Politics is about the persuasion required to move people to judgement.
  • Chapter Eight, The Need For Politics, p. 193
• If the rising tide fails to lift all boats, resentments will increase.
  • Conclusion, If Not Now, When?, p. 202