There is extraordinary satisfaction that comes with the freedom to do the work I’ve chosen in the way I think it ought to be done. But even better is the chance to do that work for an institution that is bringing healing where there has been harm. 

What a marvel that I am able to have both here.

The Dispatch wants to do good for our nation, and goes about it with an unselfconscious enthusiasm that is not much in evidence in the news media these days. Thank God for that, and thank God for you, gentle readers, who make it possible. I know only too well how rare a privilege you have afforded us here on our jolly little skiff.

When Jonah Goldberg and Steve Hayes hoisted me aboard like a stunned marlin almost three years ago, I knew that those things would be true. I knew them and knew what they had made here. What I did not expect, though, was how much I would enjoy you people.  

This note has given me a chance to get to know you, and my travels across the country have given me many chances to meet you in person. What I have learned is that in an age of siloed, partisan media, you are ideologically diverse. In an age of emotional blabber, you are thoughtful. In an age of enthusiastic ignorance, you are informed.

But best of all, you are funny.