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but the more time she spends chasing Senate seats and climbing the political ladder, the more dulled that “political outsider” edge gets.

I think it’s possible to serve in Congress and still be considered a political outsider. It’s not easy, the secret seems to be a strong commitment to principles outside of the mainstream but at least a couple of people have done it.

Bernie has been in the legislative branch since 91 and was in state government for a decade before that. Being a political outsider is still part of his appeal. On the other end of the spectrum Ron Paul was first elected to the House in 76 and retired from politics in 2013 without ever having become a political insider.

Someone who didn’t eat the Mona Lisa.

People don’t revere the framers, they treat our founding mythos similarly to religion. They embrace what they like and what reinforces their beliefs while ignoring things that they find inconvenient. Primarily they ignore that very little was universally agreed upon by our framers and that the Constitution is the result of significant compromise. When someone says, “The framers believed…” they are almost always wrong and actually only framing what they believe in a way that they think gives it more credibility.

Townhalls are a type of political event. They are typically small forum events held in places like town halls or school gyms and involve the politician giving a short speech typically limited to a single issue or current event followed by a longer period where the audience asks the politician questions. It’s not limited to campaigning, legislators often hold these events outside of elections. Theoretically they give the politician the opportunity to hear issues and concerns that their constituents most care about but mostly they are used to drum up support for legislation that the politician already supports.