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How do we get more politicians to move from 'fixing' the system to reforming the system? The obvious answer is to either improve the quality of public services or reduce the public's dependence on them. Both approaches are necessary.
Raghuram Rajan
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote suggests that effective political change requires both improving public services and reducing reliance on them.

Raghuram Rajan emphasizes the need for politicians to transition from merely fixing the existing system to pursuing meaningful reform. This involves enhancing the quality of public services provided to citizens while simultaneously encouraging a shift away from over-dependence on these services. Ultimately, true reform encompasses both improving what exists and fostering independence among the public.

Themes

PoliticsReformPublic ServicesDependenceChange

In practice

Example use cases

This quote could be used in a political debate to emphasize the need for reform.

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The problem with forbearance is that it always looks like a good thing to do until it stops working.
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Too many years away from academia renders you pretty incompetent at research and teaching. So I had to go back.
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The gap in India has always been between the promise and the execution.
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