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Dear prospective Dispatch members, As part of our effort to broaden our membership at The ...

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Dear prospective Dispatch members,

As part of our effort to broaden our membership at The Dispatch, the suits asked me to reflect a bit on my time here. 

It’s been a really interesting year for me. Sure there’s been a worldwide pandemic and murder hornets, but way before all that I started talking to Steve Hayes about joining this team of Dispatch misfits. And I had just found out I was pregnant, too. 

I remember wondering, what will my life look like a year from now?

And now it’s September 2020. (How is it September already?! 2020 has been both interminable and flown by at the same time!) My son, whom Dispatch members know as the Brisket, is living his best life these days. And coming to The Dispatch has exceeded every expectation. 

We just taped another episode of our nerd podcast, Advisory Opinions, yesterday. David and I have the best time all week thinking about what legal topics we want to cover and whether a deep dive discussion on fungus really is a bridge too far in terms of nerd content. For Tuesday’s episode, David noted that I was “very disgruntled” at the start, but how can I stay mad when we get to spend an hour talking about election law, voter fraud, and Christopher Nolan movies?

And after the podcast, I got back on my computer to read all the comments on my campaign newsletter, The Sweep, sent to readers just a few hours earlier. I don’t know how else to say this, but I LOVE our members. I read every comment and email. There’s a 15-year-old high school student who always has the most insightful questions. She and I now email regularly, and her very existence fills me with hope about the future of our fragile republic. 

If you’re getting this note, it’s because you’re someone to whom we affectionately refer as a freelister. I hope you’ve signed up for The Sweep (plug!) and I hope you enjoy the podcasts (plug! plug!). But if you’re not a member, I hope you’ll try this free month that we’re offering. Jump into the comments and I think you’ll love what you find—a community of well-intentioned citizens that rarely agree on anything grappling in good faith with the pressing issues of our day. And occasionally some dad jokes. 

I always learn things from the comments, because only members are allowed to join the discussions. There are no drive-by trolls writing a snarky comment, starting a fight, and disappearing. I’m looking forward to this free trial month because I’m excited to expand our conversations, to welcome new voices to our community, and to see what’s on your mind. And, when I can, answer some questions along the way.

Try out the month. Head on over to the comments section for The Sweep. Come be part of our Dispatch experience. 

Sarah

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  1. Nancy.Piggott

    I could not find out how to email you on the show. Retired, not tech savvy, not on social media. So my email thoughts will have to be in this comment. Sorry.

    Hi there,
    I am a regular listener to the podcast - I learn so much. I'm also a retired hospital chaplain and educator. You are so good to use metaphors and analogies and examples from regular life. Those are like bumpers in a bowling lane for very occasional bowlers. and it really helps those of us who are NOT law school educated. I'd like to ask that you provide such an example for why it is important to take the 14th amendment seriously and literally.
    From my perspective, the amendment came out of a crucible of time when people in this country found out how terrible, destructive and literally deadly insurrection can be. They were, in good conscience, trying to save us from re-experiencing that. They knew a lot more about it than we do.
    Adding an amendment to our constitution is an arduous process to say the least. Not only does it have to be proposed by a 2/3 vote of both congressional bodies, it then has to be ratified by 3/4 of the states. The proposed wording was undoubtedly discussed, argued over and dissected many times. In their considered and collective wisdom, they chose to omit references to conviction of insurrection or any other hoops to jump through before barring a candidate from taking a second oath of office when they had already violated the first one.
    We, as a people, should not be finding "off-ramps" to not enforce this amendment. When the right-wing outrage machine cranks up, perhaps even becomes deadly, it won't be nearly as bad as a second Trump term would be. For the sake of democracy and our population as a whole, we should just take our medicine now. Failure to heed that truism in the past (I'm looking at you, Mitch McConnell) is how we got into this mess in the first place.
    I wish you could share these thoughts with the Supreme Court Justices who seems to spend in inordinate amount of their time and brainpower fuzzing the legal arguments in order to have self-justification.

    Warmly,
    Nancy Piggott

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