A biography for Richard Lammhasn’t been written yet.
“America does not need another political campaign based on denial and avoidance of some of our real problems. It needs a crusade to reform and renew our country, its institutions and political system.”
“The environment issue is hydra-headed and complicated, but it is of immense importance that we understand how fast the world is changing.”
“It is clear that agriculture as we know it has experienced major changes within the life expectancy of most of us, and these changes have caused a major further deterioration of worldwide levels of nutrition.”
“'Diversity' is a wonderfully seductive word. It stresses differences rather than commonalities. Diverse people worldwide are mostly engaged in hating each other - that is, when they are not killing each other. A 'diverse,' peaceful or stable society is against most historical precedent.”
“I think modern societies have to ask a very basic question: What strategies buy the most health for people? Doctors can do so many marvelous things now. They can keep a corpse alive, almost.”
“We can make the United States a 'Hispanic Quebec' without much effort. The key is to celebrate diversity rather than unity.”
“A nation has its first obligation to its own workers and its own poor.”
“Politics, like theater, is one of those things where you've got to be wise enough to know when to leave.”
“History shows that nations are more fragile than their citizens think. No nation in history has survived the ravages of time.”
“Universal coverage, not medical technology, is the foundation of any caring health care system.”
“Medical need is an infinitely expandable concept. There is always one more marginal procedure that can be done. There is no end to the medical and surgical treatments that a technologically sophisticated and advanced society can give to aging bodies.”
“I think that retiring the baby boomers is going to be one of the great challenges in America, that you cannot make fiscal sense out of the future of our children without taking on entitlements.”
“I suggest that those groups whose culture and values stress delayed gratification - education, hard work, success, and ambition - are those groups that succeed in America, regardless of discrimination.”
“America has to ask itself not what it wants, but what it can afford.”
“Employers love cheap labor, but a country should train its own people.”
“A truly moral health care system should start out by covering all of its citizens with basic health care. It would not be seduced by its technology and fancy buildings.”
“I believe for some high-technology medicine, like transplants and kidney dialysis, age should be a consideration in the delivery of that technology. In a world of limited resources, we have a larger duty to a 10-year-old than to a 90-year-old.”
“I do not believe you can have infinite population or economic growth in a finite world. We are living on the shoulders of some awesome geometric curves.”
“The approaching exhaustion of domestic reserves of petroleum and the rapid depletion of world reserves will have a profound effect on Americans in the cities and on the farms.”
“Why give chemotherapy or even antibiotics to people with end-stage Alzheimer's disease? Keep them pain free and clean, love them but don't automatically try to get the last technology-produced breath from them. Start a preschool program instead or do something about the atrocious state of obesity in our children.”