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<rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Blog RSS</title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/</link><pubDate>Tue, 25 Sep 2018 14:55:41 +0000</pubDate><item><title><![CDATA[Time For Something New]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/time-for-something-new/</link><description><![CDATA[By Paul Hamlin
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It is a privilege to run a campaign for a political office against formidable odds.  It has been challenging to begin the necessary conversations to begin difficult change for the future.  It is a long shot, a difficult task to change the minds and hearts of a district of people that have been told what is important and who to vote for, for years.

As we have met people and interacted with them]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 25 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Measure of a Candidate]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/the-measure-of-a-candidate/</link><description><![CDATA[By Paul Hamlin
Follow Paul on Facebook here. 
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Read other articles here
Every year we walk into the voting booth.  Every year we are forced to pick between multiple people that we probably do not know how to differentiate between.  We look at the ballot and we realize that we have no idea who these people are.  We realize that the only thing we may know about them is the party that they represent.  

There are two things we realize when we stare at that ballot.  1.]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 23 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Independence Day – In November?]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/independence-day-in-november/</link><description><![CDATA[By Paul Hamlin
On June 11th, 1776 the Continental Congress selected five men to draft a response to the British Empire, to their aggressive taxation policy against the colonies and to defend the freedom and liberties of the American colonies.   The initial response was actually drafted by independence minded, Richard Henry Lee, when he penned the Lee Resolution (interested in learning more, click here).

War was already upon the colonies as the “Powder Alarm” had taken place on September 1,]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 02 Jul 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[All Alone]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/all-alone/</link><description><![CDATA[You stand alone in the booth.  There is no one telling you what you need to do.  It is a solemn and powerful moment and there is added importance and reverence every time.  The booth represents the power of our democratic Republic…it represents the power of one person over the political structure, it represents the influence of the people over the power of the political machinery.  

It gives structure to our fragile system, we are always one election away from impending disaster.  What keeps us]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 19 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Do Your Job or Step Aside]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/do-your-job-or-step-aside/</link><description><![CDATA[As a Human Resources professional, it was important for employees to know what their roles and responsibilities were.  It made the job easier to perform, it made it clear what they were being hired for and it created a sense of ownership to the responsibilities of the job.  As a manager of people job description made it easier to hold people accountable to their job, to help point them in the right direction for what needed to be accomplished, and to control overreach in their position.  

This]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 11 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Congress Abdicates Its Power]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/congress-abdicates-its-power/</link><description><![CDATA[Article I of the Constitution gives Congress the “Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States,” and “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes.”  

Simply stated the power of trade, taxes and tariffs is supposed to lie with the Congress of the United States.  Over time the Congress has abdicated its constitutional authority to the]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 04 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[History of Healthcare in the United States]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/history-of-healthcare-in-the-united-states/</link><description><![CDATA[In the late 1800’s America started maintaining formalized records of healthcare.  As a result of the industrial revolution in the United States it became necessary to record and quantify workplace injuries.  For the first time unions offered “illness protection”.  These were the first cases of a group of people banding together to gain protection from financial loss due to the cost of healthcare. 

Even with the advent of the AMA (American Medical Association) in the 1900’s there was not]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 15 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Healthcare Reform]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/healthcare-reform/</link><description><![CDATA[In 2010 the ACA was passed into law.  Under the law millions of low-income people and families added insurance. The cost of these families and individuals was subsidized.  They received assistance from the insurance companies and the government, making their insurance cost lower.  Insurance companies received billions of dollars from the federal government in return. 

The problem?  The cost of adding these customers must be offset somewhere, as no company will operate at a loss.  The answer?]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 15 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Entitlements and the Future]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/entitlements-and-the-future/</link><description><![CDATA[In order to have a useful discussion of entitlements and reform we must start with a definition of “entitlement” in order to ensure that we are starting from the same place.  Using the government definition of the word entitlement: 

“A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 09 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Maybe You]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/maybe-you/</link><description><![CDATA[Our nation is in a vacuum, standing on a precipice of what we were and what we could be. With the ultimate question being; will we look back with yearning in our hearts or will we bravely jump forward into something greater?  As we sit waiting, the world is passing us by.

The easiest thing to do would be to fill you with great hope that the greatest days for this nation are in front of us, not behind us.  We can talk about the value of the American dream and the values that we continue to pass]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 02 May 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Free Trade]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/free-trade/</link><description><![CDATA[As long as people are imperfect there will be no perfect form of world economy.  The reason that there is no ideal system of economy is that no matter what system you participate in there will be greed, there will be people who take advantage of the system and will prosper on the backs of those who are less fortunate.  

There is no way for a system or a process to correct this.  This is the nature of humankind, in a sad statement that is who we are as a species.  Wherever there are good]]></description><pubDate>Tue, 24 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Independent Thought]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/independent-thought/</link><description><![CDATA[There are two parties.  That’s just the way it is.  There are no other answers.  Technically no third-party candidate has ever been elected President of the United States. 

In the history of the country there has only been one President that was not a member of a major party, and that is only because there were no parties when George Washington became President.  On his way out of office, after voluntarily giving away the office in 1796, Washington warned us to stay away from political parties.]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 16 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Inescapable Hole?]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/the-inescapable-hole/</link><description><![CDATA[We have abandoned our children, we have decided that our immediate desire is more important than the future of the nation.  Our comfort in the immediate has trumped the need for change and reform in the political, social and financial systems of this nation.  

In the past there was a question that was a standard question on polls for the direction of the nation.  That question was “do you think this nation will be better for your children?”  We need to really think about the implications and]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 13 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Working for NJ?]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/working-for-nj/</link><description><![CDATA[Donald Norcross, current Congressman for District 1, claims he is “Working for New Jersey”. 

However, in four years he has had, in total, one bill passed into law. In 2015 Norcross had a bill pass through the House and the Senate that in 2016 was enacted when the President of The United States signed it into law! 

What was his first, and only, legislative bill? To rename a post office (HR 3866: Designation of Deptford Post Office to “First Lieutenant Salvatore S. Corma II Post Office]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 22 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Divisive Language Around Guns Paralyzes Common-Sense Solutions]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/divisive-language-around-guns-paralyzes-common-sense-solutions/</link><description><![CDATA[​
The conversation surrounding the topic of guns, and more specifically the Second Amendment, has become one of the most polarized topics in current political discourse. Predictably, Republicans and Democrats are aligning themselves on extreme sides of the debate with hopes of maintaining political capital by means of divisive rhetoric. However, I believe the conversation around guns does not need to be a partisan one. A common-sense, balanced approach is possible by taking measures to allow]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 21 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Listening to the People]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/listening-to-the-people/</link><description><![CDATA[We spent our Saturday canvassing a Cherry Hill neighborhood with a twofold purpose: ) 1) to talk to people about the government and get a feel for what people like, dislike or would like to see in their government and 2) to get signatures (which was really more of a secondary aim).  It was cold and quite frankly terrifying for an introvert who dislikes starting conversations with new people.  Nevertheless, we paired up, made plans for where to go and canvassed the neighborhood.  It was an]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 05 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Onward - our time to be heard]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/onward-our-time-to-be-heard/</link><description><![CDATA[We have done it!  We have completed step one of a long journey…we have collected enough signatures to ensure that my name will be placed on the ballot alongside the Democratic candidate and the Republican candidate.  It is an amazing feeling.  I feel that we should thank everyone that signed, everyone that went to friends and family to gather signatures…thank you so very much.  We will be collecting additional signatures in the coming week, so if you have not signed there is still time.  Contact]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 04 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Donations]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/donations/</link><description><![CDATA[I must admit that this probably has been one of the most difficult topics for me to address.  I would love to be able to simply fund the entire campaign on my own, but I honestly do not have the resources to do so. 

Our competition will spend as a minimum over $200,000, and they have war chests that total over $1,000,000.  These numbers can be extremely discouraging and somewhat daunting…but I do not think we will need to operate with the same budget as the major candidates.  I believe that we]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 28 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Simple Solutions?  Not so simple]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/simple-solutions-not-so-simple/</link><description><![CDATA[Simple solutions are impossible. End of statement. 

We live in a complex nation, with many people whom have varying opinions. Each topic touches on, or impacts another topic. Anytime you hear about someone, some “leader” pushing easy solutions for complex issues, you are being driven into divisive politics…divisive politics love to simplify issues down to an “us vs. them” solution. 

Our “leaders” will claim to be either for or against an issue, but life is not that easy, nor does it fit into]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 25 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item><item><title><![CDATA[Some Lessons from Kindergarten]]></title><link>paulhamlin.com/thoughts-from-paul/some-lessons-from-kindergarten/</link><description><![CDATA[We have all seen the online stories or memes or posts about "everything I need to know I learned in kindergarten", well I thought I would step this up a bit.  

Here are some lessons that our national  "leaders" and elected officials should have learned in kindergarten:

Play Fair

Let's be clear what fair is.  Fair is setting a set of standards for all people.  Making sure you remain consistent in what you say is good, and what you say is bad.  Allowing for all people to have a voice and an]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 21 Feb 2018 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate></item></channel></rss>
