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Be The Change
331 Plays3 years ago
Sarah Trone Garriott never shies away from a tough conversation, an opportunity to bridge a gap, or chance to be part of the opportunities for change she sees in front of her. The journey leaning into those things has taken her not only to various parts of the country but also into history, ministry, politics, and service.
This episode we talk to Sarah about her journey of faith, what drew her into the political process, the realities of friendship and ministry, and how the perspectives of those who believe differently than us can draw us into growth.
To find more about Sarah, visit sarahforiowa.com
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Transcript
Introduction to Uncommon Wealth Podcast
00:00:00
Speaker
Everyone dreams of living an uncommon life and the best asset you have to achieve your dreams is you. Welcome to the Uncommon Wealth Podcast. We're going to introduce you to people who are living uncommonly. We're also going to give you some tools and strategies for building wealth and for pursuing an uncommon path that is uniquely right for you.
00:00:25
Speaker
Welcome everybody to Uncommon Wealth, the podcast that you love, I love, we all love. It's a new name, new facelift, rebranded, Uncommon Wealth, that's our brand. And we chose wealth very strategically because we thought being rich, I'd rather be wealthy. And for us, it's so different. And so wealth is all the aspects of your life, not just your finances. So here at Uncommon Wealth, we really do try to pour into you, see how you're gifted,
00:00:53
Speaker
and then we try to use your money to get you to the ultimate end of where you don't ever want to retire.
Meet Sarah Throne Garriott
00:00:58
Speaker
So Aaron Kramer, you're on the show, I'm on the show, but we have another person on the show. Not only do we have another person on the show, it's a whole new name, we have video too. Holy buckets Batgirl.
00:01:08
Speaker
Yes. All right. So I'm going to get our guest on the show. I can't wait to unpack this story. This is going to be fun. Politician. Yeah. You just stop your mouth right now. Here we go. Sarah Throne Garriott. She's Iowa State Senator for Waukee, of all places. West Des Moines Clive and Windsor Heights. So a couple more. And she is an ordained minister serving as coordinator of interfaith engagement for the Des Moines Area Religious Council.
00:01:36
Speaker
Man, we've got a lot to cover. Do you have any children? I do. I've got two kids. Okay, two kids and a mother. Holy cow. Welcome to the show, Sarah. Yes. All right. So first, this is the first politician that we've ever had on the show. Yeah. It's going to be fun to unravel this. Yeah.
00:01:54
Speaker
So excited for it. How did you get here?
Sarah's Unconventional Path to Politics
00:01:56
Speaker
I don't think of myself as a politician. I like that. My dad's an auto mechanic. My mom's a nurse. No one in my family has ever run for office. And I never planned on running for office either. But there are all these times in my life where there's an issue that I want to work on or a need that I feel called to address. And there are these different roles that I get to take on in order to do that work.
00:02:19
Speaker
We're going to be friends, Sarah. I can tell you that right now, instead of sitting back in armchair quarterbacking, you're like, no, give me the, give me the, give me the ball. I want in. Yeah. But like, where's that time? Like, so you went into school to be, you know, ministry. So really? Yeah. So I hear you're going to go, we got to unpack that. Okay. Let's unpack that. Where did you go to school? Where'd you graduate?
00:02:41
Speaker
So I actually went to college in northern Minnesota. I wasn't planning on leaving northern Minnesota, so I went to a school just down the road, the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota. Little private liberal arts school, but it wasn't necessarily the right place to go for a history degree. That's what I was studying. A lot of people there were doing physical therapy and nursing, so that's really what it was known for.
00:03:07
Speaker
Um, and I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. Um, so I generally knew that I was interested in history. I thought maybe I'd want to teach, maybe I'd go to law school, but I graduated with this just, you know, I just didn't know where I was going. What did you graduate with? Um, so I graduated with a history degree. Okay. I finished in three years because it was important to get it done quick. I had to pay for school myself. If you don't know what you're doing, get it done quick. Let's go.
00:03:32
Speaker
Well, and my parents said, you know, they, they wanted me to get a technical degree. They wanted me to become a nurse or get something where I could get a job. And I said, no, I'm really interested in these topics, but I don't know what I want to do with it. So I knew I couldn't get a job with a history degree. That is what I've been told over and over again in my life. So I, after graduation, I joined AmeriCorps. I was an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer for a year in Gallup, New Mexico. Okay. And very different from Northern Minnesota. I was one of about.
00:04:02
Speaker
15% Anglo, that's what they call white people in town. It was mostly Navajo and then somewhat Hispanic and then Anglo. I was working for a legal aid program on a domestic violence project.
00:04:19
Speaker
And I thought, okay, I'm going to go to law school. So this is how I can learn about that career. And what I ended up finding was that there were a lot of problems with religion related to violence against women. And so I talked to a lot of people who had been told by their faith leaders, you know, this is your cross to bear. God is punishing you through your husband.
00:04:39
Speaker
don't leave because it's against God's will. And the church was really a barrier to people getting help. And so I thought, well, maybe I can educate faith leaders on how to be better at what they do. And so I did a conference for faith leaders on domestic violence and that kind of put me on a path to thinking about ministry. Sure.
00:05:03
Speaker
See, that's really good. Here's one, you were barking down the right tree because it's like, so I'm super plugged into my church and hearing the stories on stories of how leadership in churches have like, let's just push this under the rug, how damaging that is. And they just don't, they've never been equipped to be like, no, there's gotta be a better way.
00:05:27
Speaker
Well, in the first faith leader that I reached out to in the community to say, hey, would you help me plan this conference? He said, why would we want to talk about that? Church isn't where you bring your problems. What? And that didn't feel right to me. Something seems off here. Yeah, that didn't feel right to me. So I was like, oh, come on, you know, just humor may be part of the planning. And so he helped with the conference and at the end of it, he said, now I see why this is important. It was happening in my community and no one ever trusted me enough to tell me. Very good. There you go.
00:05:57
Speaker
Wow, good for you not to punch him in the face. You kind of wanted to, let's just be honest. I was 21 years old, so I was like, hey, great, I'm glad you learned something. Tell him with kindness, Sarah. Yeah, so then you went to ministry school. Well, not yet. Okay, keep going. Don't rush us, don't rush us. Yeah, I went back to Minnesota because I thought, well, that was my plan, always to return home. And I started working for a program that
00:06:25
Speaker
assisted victims of sexual assault. And again, lots of religious issues I was running into in that program. And so I applied to graduate school thinking, well, maybe I could go learn more about my faith community, about Christianity, because there were so many folks having really negative experiences with their church. And I had a friend
00:06:47
Speaker
say to me, thank you for being the only good Christian I know. And I said, you know, I really don't know what it means to be a good Christian. I grew up in the church, but couldn't articulate that. And I said, I know there's good things in my tradition. So I went to graduate school to figure that out. And then- We're at graduate
From Ministry to Politics
00:07:05
Speaker
school. So I went to Harvard Divinity School. And the last day of my orientation before we started classes was September 11th.
00:07:16
Speaker
So again, there were all of these issues, heavy issues that were happening and the campus is really diverse. So we have people from all different religious backgrounds and folks who are not religious. And so I ended up working a lot with the Muslim students on campus because a lot of folks were feeling just very, there was a lot of animosity towards the Muslim community.
00:07:40
Speaker
And so I organized some events for the students around Ramadan, which is a holy month in Islam. Huge thing for them. Yeah. And it was a really great learning experience for me. And I met a bunch of folks who were becoming Presbyterian ministers who took me to their church in South Boston. And it was this great experience of like really organic community where everyone mattered and it was doing important things. And I'd never experienced church that way.
00:08:08
Speaker
And so I started thinking about the possibility of becoming a minister, but I wasn't quite ready yet to do that. And so after graduation, I thought I'd go back into the nonprofit world, but it didn't work out for me. I was waiting tables. Non-profiting. Yeah. Because I was not profiting. And I ended up working as a personal assistant for this wealthy family, and it really wasn't what I wanted to do.
00:08:35
Speaker
And I made a bargain with myself and with God, I guess, saying, okay, I'm going to explore this ministry thing. So I spent a year in an educational program to learn how to be a hospital chaplain, which is something that a lot of ministry programs require you to do. And I was in Philadelphia,
00:08:55
Speaker
I worked in this very busy inner city hospital as a chaplain in residence and had some really terrible traumatic experiences. Thrown in the fire, right. The first night I was there, I didn't even know how the pager worked and I had to baptize twin babies that were being coded in the NICU. Oh, Sarah. And it was really a hard time. Lots of difficult experiences.
00:09:20
Speaker
But I came out of that year saying, okay, I survived that. I can be a minister. You know, I can handle that. You could have gone one or two ways there. Yeah. Could have gone forward or could have gone backwards. Truly like that is you are getting thrown in with like the hardest situations and you pulled in like, hey, I'm doubling down on this. Yeah. Very cool. And so I went to seminary in Chicago. How old are you at this point?
00:09:48
Speaker
At that point, I'm 26, and there was a Lutheran Seminary in Chicago that I started classes at, and I worked on the weekends as a chaplain at the Children's Hospital in Chicago. So again, some really challenging situations, some hard experiences, but it was one of the best experiences I've ever had preparing for ministry
00:10:14
Speaker
or being in the current role I have is that my job is to walk around the building at night and visit with the nursing staff, the security staff, the people who worked in the cafeterias, the parents who were awake all night, the kids who couldn't sleep and build those relationships and be really present for what they needed. And so then I built that trust.
Balancing Work and Family
00:10:34
Speaker
And they would call me, not just for the bad things, but for all kinds of needs. And then I was much better to be able to respond when there was a crisis. And there were a lot of them. Shepherding God's people. Yeah, shepherding God's people. Yeah, and there were people from all kinds of different backgrounds. So, you know, lots of different religions and cultures and folks who weren't religious, but through it, I was trying to help them.
00:10:57
Speaker
navigate some really difficult times. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Oh, this is so good. Okay. Uh, you're married. Yes. Correct. Two children, girls, boys, two boys, boys, boys, homies. Okay. So how long have you been married?
00:11:12
Speaker
So my husband and I met in graduate school at Harvard. Okay. That's what my next point was. Tell me how that interwove in the story of the relationship and how did he support you through, man, probably some really, some big tears, alligator tears at some point.
00:11:27
Speaker
Um, so my husband is incredibly supportive of me. Um, as I was discerning, he was really open to what that could mean. If we had to move somewhere for me to do school, we took turns while he was doing his PhD. We were living in New Jersey and Philadelphia when I wanted to go to seminary move to Chicago. Um, and he understands that, you know, in my, my job, um, there are ways he can be supportive and helpful and,
00:11:55
Speaker
One of the congregation members refer to him as being like the guy married to the queen, where you just need to kind of smile and love it. Not cause trouble, but it's a lot more than that. He's a really great positive presence in my life.
00:12:12
Speaker
and he's a great parent and I certainly couldn't do any of the things I'm doing right now without him because right now he's the primary parent who's holding it all together while I'm campaigning and working and serving in the legislature. Yeah, running hard.
00:12:28
Speaker
Okay, so you get, you're now, you got your license through the Lutheran College, or you got, you graduated. Yep, I graduated. So we have an ordination process that kind of runs parallel to your education. And so my first call, my first parish was in rural Virginia. Okay. My husband, going east. My husband finished his PhD in anthropology. Anthropology. Yep. Seriously. And he studies the American legal system.
00:12:58
Speaker
And so his first job was in Virginia. And so I had to restrict to the state of Virginia to be somewhere near, but luckily there were a lot of Lutherans in Virginia, a lot of congregations. And so we ended up living 45 minutes away from his university. So I could serve a parish in a really rural community. It was just a crossroads. And we were about 20 miles from the nearest grocery store.
00:13:24
Speaker
Oh wow, so you're really out there. How many people in the congregation? It varied. You know, our regular worship attendance was probably around 80. Okay. So it was a good size community and such a vibrant community because we had a rescue squad back there, the volunteer EMS. We had our own community fair every summer. That was like 5,000 people would come a night to attend this fair. We had a very active community center.
00:13:54
Speaker
And there were quite a few churches, so there was always a lot going on in this community. But we were pretty remote.
00:14:01
Speaker
And it was a great place to be, but I was always Pastor Sarah to everyone. And so that was tough too because I was very much a part of the community, but at the same time we had no friends. Yeah, right. Real friends that you can get down with. Congregation members I'd hear, oh, they had a Halloween party and
Rural Ministry Challenges
00:14:20
Speaker
everyone was invited, but not us. What's your husband's name? Will. Will, not Sarah and Will.
00:14:26
Speaker
Yeah. Um, so it was, it was tough because we were of the community, but not really, we were never going to be from there. And even people who were born five miles down the road weren't considered to be from there. Wow. And so a lot of the families who lived in that community had been there for many generations, like their great grandparents settled. Gee.
00:14:47
Speaker
Isn't that interesting? Because you're part of the church, and so you think you'd be brought in part of the community so quickly. Yeah, you're in the family. Yeah. Not so much. It's a different kind of relationship that you have with people. It is. You have to have good boundaries as a pastor, because you're there to help these people and be supportive of them. And yet, at the same time, you can't really go to them to meet your needs. Right, right. Yeah. And so having friends, having community outside the church was challenging. But I had a really good group of ministers.
00:15:16
Speaker
And we would drive like an hour every week together for coffee and study scripture. Life giving. And it was really, really important to me to have those colleagues. Yeah, as it should be. Okay. Any babies by this time? Yes. There we go. It's like, if it wasn't hard, just throw a baby on it.
00:15:33
Speaker
Well, so we had our first child about a year after I started at the parish and that was a tough delivery. Well, the delivery was just fine, but our congregation, our denomination was going through
00:15:49
Speaker
Some changes and we had a big change in how we determined who could be a leader in the church and the church National church made a decision that people who were in same-sex relationships could be pastors And so initially my congregation was doing fine with it
00:16:06
Speaker
But there was a group of people really agitating and saying, no, this is not okay, we need to leave the denomination. And so while I was on maternity leave, and I was only gone for four weeks, they held a meeting about leaving the denomination. And it was very hurtful and also really upsetting because suddenly we had moved to Virginia, we had started a life there, we had a baby, and it looked like I might be losing.
00:16:30
Speaker
my place, my call. Things could be really falling apart. And so that was really tough. Without you being there to like have a voice. That's the worst part. You're like a fighter clearly if we've learned this before. They shut me out and that was really hurtful. So 10 days later when I was back. Not surprising though for the record. Like you're not us. Does that make sense? Like you can be a, you're not us.
00:16:53
Speaker
Sometimes when, when folks are upset, they do hurtful things that they would never do. And, you know, that just doesn't seem like them. So when I came back, I visited with everyone one-on-one and went out and talked to almost all the members and said,
00:17:10
Speaker
You know, how are you doing with this? What are your feelings? And I was really clear about where I stood that if the congregation left the denomination, I couldn't go with them. Right. That that wasn't something I was willing to do and found out that not that many people really were upset about it and wanting to leave. But the ones that were, were very.
00:17:31
Speaker
We're very upset. And so they ended up resigning from the congregation and leaving the church, which was really hard for the people because they had been, you know, neighbors and friends. They did life together with them. I mean, going back, you know, truly generations with families being connected.
00:17:48
Speaker
it was really hard for the people. And so I helped them navigate that process about, you know, yes, I know you're mad at your friend, but we've got to love them and you have to let them go if this is not what they're comfortable with and find a way to come together when they do come back. Cause they would come back for funerals or other holiday celebrations. I mean, it was a small community and we came through that time a lot stronger.
00:18:12
Speaker
And they still say, even though it was such a rough time, that I was one of their best pastors they ever had. Wow, that's awesome. That's great. Yeah. All right, so then you moved to, at some point you moved to Iowa.
00:18:24
Speaker
So my husband had been on the job market every year looking for a better position because in the state of Virginia, they had frozen all state employee salaries and that we came in 2008. So just as the recession was beginning, and that was really tough to be in a position where each year you know, you're losing ground financially. Um, and then to be told, Hey, go find another job. We'll find someone else.
00:18:51
Speaker
It doesn't feel great. It doesn't feel great. And then the college president also gave himself a very significant bonus during that time when no one else was getting raises. Feels even better. So he was looking and he was offered a job at Drake.
00:19:08
Speaker
Oh. And it was really the perfect fit for him. The right kind of department, really great feeling for the university.
Settling in Iowa and Political Awakening
00:19:16
Speaker
And so he said, what do you think about Iowa? And I'm like, well, I've never really spent any time there. What do you think? It might be time for Sarah to support well.
00:19:24
Speaker
Yes. Oh yeah, definitely. And so I said, okay, let's go. And we moved to Iowa with no real plan about where we were going to live. Um, we figured we'd figure it out once we got here. So we had a one year old and three year old and two dogs, and we didn't realize how long it would take to actually purchase a home. So for about two months after we got to Iowa, we were essentially homeless. We stayed with friends and we traveled all over the country while we were waiting to close on our house.
00:19:55
Speaker
And it was a good time, but it was a hard time always trying to plan ahead for the next move and where we would stay and where we could go while we were trying to take time before we could move into our home.
00:20:11
Speaker
But it's been a great place to live and to raise our kids. And where did you find the home? So we moved to a house in Windsor Heights. Yep. Radar Heights, everyone. Radar Heights. For those who know, know. You know what I'm saying? When you've got kids and there are no sidewalks anywhere, you want those cars driving slow. That's good. I would have liked the speed limit to be 15, honestly. Yeah, right.
00:20:33
Speaker
Uh, and then you decide like, Hey, I want to, I got some things or some issues that I want to go tackle. I'm going to this whole political route. Yeah. That's what I want. We're here. Yeah. And we're here 20 minutes in. So that's good. Super excited. So good. I have a long meandering story. That's a great story. I'm glad we went through cause that's like so much more. I think I'll just, I'll just jump in here. Like how does this have anything to do with finances? Here's the deal.
00:21:00
Speaker
At the end of the day, the reason why we reached out to Sarah is because she actually loves her life. And every day, people would say that she works. I feel like you'd say that, like, no, I just get to enjoy life and love it. So that's why we at Uncommon Wealth really do want to help people use their money to go after and love their life every day. So they don't feel like they're working. And when you get to this point, man, your whole paradigm is shifted into like, maybe it's not about masking all this wealth in this 401k or some kind of account.
00:21:29
Speaker
Maybe it's about impacting people today with the talents and resources that I have currently to be able to enjoy people. Obviously, Sarah loves people. And it's fun to just see the background and history of how this all has kind of been you. And now what you're doing now seems like very synergistic to your history. So that's why now we're going into political things. Sorry. Now it's Aaron's show. This is great. So I was like, that's okay. So politicians in general, you're just like, Oh, this is gross. We've talked about this when we grab coffee.
00:21:59
Speaker
but what made you want to jump? Cause I feel like when we had coffee to back up there, like you agreed with me on this. Like, yeah, that's hard, but you made that jump.
00:22:08
Speaker
to wanna do that, so what was the couple big things that you were like, screw it, let me go make a change? So we've had the experience of having to go through change a lot in our life together as a couple. You heard about it. We've moved so many times, we've had to start over, and every time you enact a change, it's a risk. Yeah. Beginning something new, but there's always great things to be experienced. And so I started as a minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Clive,
00:22:37
Speaker
And I was serving there, and we got a call one day from our state senator for that church and for my district, because I lived in the community, asking if we'd come do a prayer for the opening of the Senate session. And so I said yes. And I led the prayer that day and got to meet my state senator.
00:22:59
Speaker
for the first time I paid attention to state government. Cause I had never thought about state government before. And so being in that chamber, noticing the people there starting to think about the decisions that were being made in that room. Um, I really started to get more engaged and there were a few issues that were on my mind, public education. You know, we came to Iowa. I'm like, I was great. They've got amazing public schools. I'm really excited about this, but every year I saw the funding not keeping pace with the rising cost of doing business.
00:23:29
Speaker
And then a lot of new needs coming to the school system that they couldn't, you know, they tried to respond to. And I also am a parent of two kids. And when the Newtown massacre happened, it devastated me. And I was aware that there were some new proposals to allow anyone
00:23:53
Speaker
no matter what age, to handle handguns with a parent supervision. And thinking about my children, that was really frightening to me. And so I got involved with a group called Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense because I knew there were a lot of other mothers out there who felt the way I did, who were really concerned about the growing threat of gun violence to our children.
00:24:14
Speaker
And so I started showing up at the Capitol for advocacy events. I started going to my state senator's legislative coffees. I started birddogging him at events. I don't know if that's what it was called, but I would be like, oh, hey, and make a beeline right to him and start asking him questions about policies or votes that were coming up. And when I realized that he was going to be running for reelection,
00:24:40
Speaker
Um, it really bothered me. Um, I started thinking about it a lot. I actually had a dream about him buying new yard signs for his campaign and waking up so angry, thinking somebody has to run against him. And I thought, Oh no, this could be me. That might have to be me.
00:24:59
Speaker
Because I had met other women who were in similar places in their life who had run for state senate. And I realized that it wasn't something that other people had to do. It was something that I could do. And I cared about my community. And it was a way to address some issues that were really important to me. And so I told my husband, I'm just going to learn about what it means to run for office. I'm going to do a training program.
00:25:26
Speaker
going to do it really. And he said, Oh, I know where this is going. It's a slippery slope. Yeah, it is a slippery slope. Um, and I decided that, that I would do that and making that leap of faith was really, really hard because I knew it would put me out there in a different way. And it would ask a lot of me and my family that
00:25:46
Speaker
We had never offered before. And being a minister, I was a pretty public person in a lot of ways. And I've had people be very angry at me as a minister. I felt my safety was threatened as a minister. Um, and it's quite a political position sometimes, though the issues are more like what color is the carpet? People can get very upset about that. Um, and so I ran in 2020 and my state Senator ended up not running for reelection. He decided to retire instead.
00:26:16
Speaker
Well, that's helpful. Yeah. So it was interesting because I had been running for about six months and then when the time came to put his name on the ballot, he decided not to. And so I instead ran against the mayor of Clive who had been mayor longer than I'd lived in Iowa.
00:26:31
Speaker
and nailed it. Got it. I got it. It was a, it was a bad year for Democrats and I was one of the only Democrats to win in the state and one of the only ones to flip a seat. Okay. So I, I wouldn't say that election night was celebratory. Yeah. I felt really bad for a lot of folks. I knew who ran and didn't win. And then my margin was really close.
00:26:54
Speaker
Sure. So, and I knew I was going into that first session. Yep. Um, in the super minority. Yeah. Right. So I was like, wow, what have I gotten myself into? This is not going to be fun at all. Yeah. Right. Okay. So first day you're now a Senator. What was it like?
00:27:13
Speaker
It was disorienting because the pandemic had been going on for about a year at this point.
Early Days as a State Senator
00:27:21
Speaker
And there were really differing opinions about how we should respond to it. And so I was one of the people who was wearing a mask in public and really concerned about the risk because the numbers were pretty high at that point. And I had a lot of colleagues who weren't wearing masks and weren't taking any safety precautions. And so that was a little unsettling for me.
00:27:42
Speaker
It was really overwhelming just to try to figure out how does this system work? What is happening here? And because of COVID, everything was a little different. The capital was almost empty every day.
00:27:54
Speaker
If you go down there during the session now or before, it's full of people. It's noisy. It's loud. There's a lot going on. There was nothing happening and no one was there. It kind of goes townish. It was really interesting. And so as I was learning how to navigate the system, I was trying to educate other people about what was happening in the system. How can you be part of it? What's going on? How does state government work?
00:28:20
Speaker
because it's not apparent to all folks. It's a really strange system. Right, it's a foreign language for sure. It is. That's why you had to take a class on how to figure it out. Yeah, and so I did a lot of tweeting and posting. I would make little videos about how to navigate the legislative website, how to take part in subcommittee hearings, because to me it's really important that the people are part of the process. They heard, right. And all the way along there's all these opportunities.
00:28:45
Speaker
But so many folks just don't know where to begin. And so I try to help people be part of our state government because I know we're better when they are. Yeah, four percent. That's awesome. Very cool. So I got to throw this out there because this is fun. When I first met you, I used to tell people like, oh, I like Sarah. My first time I met her, she came out because I was out there lobbying for the financial
00:29:08
Speaker
Oh, world-nuring. Got to love him. Nefa. But anyways, I asked you if you were going to support this build I was going to go through. And you just gave me this look. It was very, like a serious, mean look. And there's like, no. Oh, wow. No, I like Sarah. This is great. Sarah, this is good. Because we were talking business. Intense. And it was like, no. And I'm like, oh.
00:29:28
Speaker
like this you were so honest because like most politicians are like give you this roundabout like we'll just talk about it and then you walk away like i don't know i don't know what just happened yeah yeah you just told me no i was like sweet i asked if we could talk about it you said yes and we did
00:29:43
Speaker
I don't actually know what you ended up voting, but it doesn't matter. The fact that you were just so honest with me, it was like, this is like giving. Yeah. Like, cause so many politicians, like there's, you call them like, Hey, why did you vote this way? Like, have you seen my votes? And it's like, I'm looking at him. Oh, you're going to lie to me. Yeah. Like.
00:30:00
Speaker
I mean, you know, there's a record of what we do. So then there's that. I'm pretty sure I did a little more than just saying no to you, though. But, you know, I'm glad you felt like I was being really direct. Well, you know, we had a really good conversation. Yeah, I don't know. It was great. I just it was the direct and like being like it wasn't there was going to be no. You saying no is like a compliment in Aaron's side. Yeah, I'm sure you said more. Yeah, you said you did. You did say a lot more. It was just the no is what resonated because when you talk to politicians,
00:30:29
Speaker
Most like it's like this like trail. I don't know. You were so direct. You told me what you thought and I was like Love this. Yeah, even if we disagree like I like know where you stand I can get behind that right even if we disagree, right? You know, it's hard because um in the political world Bills will have so much in them and the bill we were talking about was this huge tax proposal that had lots of different parts and so there are good things in it
00:30:54
Speaker
that I can get behind, but then there are things that I was just not okay with. And you have to vote on the whole thing. You can't separate it out. And that's really tough because if you got to pick and choose what you wanted to vote yes on, it would be very different.
00:31:12
Speaker
than you see in the political ads, how those votes are presented as, oh, they voted against this. It's like, well, it wasn't really that that I was opposed to. It was this other thing. Um, and that's what makes it so tough. That's true. Now you're saying, listen, my memory's getting a little better. Like that note just really stuck out for me, but yeah, it is that in that the fact that there's so much in there, cause you did ask, what about the tax bill? I had to be honest with you. I don't know. I just hear about the retirement accounts, you know,
00:31:42
Speaker
Yeah, and then I don't think people realize that so much gets stuck in those bills. Yeah, so and and that's tough because there are pieces that I know are very helpful for folks and then there are pieces that I feel like aren't getting us where we need to be.
00:31:58
Speaker
And so it's good to really listen to the community and find out what, it does the good outweigh the bad or not. The hard thing with being in the minority party is I don't have a lot of opportunity to change what that bill looks like. So we can offer amendments, but because things have become so partisan, you will not see another Republican vote in favor of a Democratic amendment. It's happened twice in the two years.
00:32:26
Speaker
that I saw one person vote. Yes. Um, and that was cause they were booking their party or, you know, wanted to show how independent they were. And you know, they probably agreed with, you know, but there's, there's things that we actually do agree on, but they're not, they're not allowed to vote on it. I hate that. Cause that happens on both sides. It does.
00:32:43
Speaker
And so that's like the thing I don't know. I ain't your guy. I ain't your guy to be political. I just feel like it's all just like a hot mess. It is a hot mess. You're right. Yeah. But I do think here's what I do like about you, Sarah. I like a lot of things, but like, I love that you're willing to communicate with Aaron on a face to face level.
00:33:03
Speaker
That's where I think you kind of alluded to, but a lot of people are just like trying to hide behind something else. But like, no, like I want to hear what's important to you. I want to understand, seek first, understand, then be understood. Maybe leave that apart out. But like for you, just having that face to face conversation. And I think that's starting to become more and more
00:33:22
Speaker
obsolete now in today's age. And especially with social media, you're reading what the AIs want you to read, and so that further cements you into the opinion that you have, instead of talking to somebody who has a different perspective.
00:33:36
Speaker
and saying, well, I mean, it happened on this podcast,
Importance of Communication in Politics
00:33:39
Speaker
like Radar Heights. Well, there's no sidewalks. Well, I never realized that. Like, yeah, it kind of makes sense. Like little things like that, if you're being honest with a human-human interaction, you can be like, oh, I guess I understand where you're coming from. And then together we can like think about ideas and solutions to move forward. That to me should be the political system. It ain't. It ain't. Unfortunately, because of that election cycle,
00:34:04
Speaker
often bills and votes are very political and they're about the election and not really about serving what people need. And so I show up on people's doorsteps. I go door knocking. I'll go door knocking this afternoon. I was door knocking last night. I try to talk to as many people where they're at.
00:34:20
Speaker
in person face to face and they'll be an issue that I might have voted no on but talking with someone they can help show me like really what is the underlying thing that they want fixed and maybe that bill wasn't going to do it but it sounded like a solution to them.
00:34:37
Speaker
And saying, well, how can we really get at that solution that's going to help families or individuals with the problems they have? And gosh, I would really like to be able to work on those things across the aisle. And I think it's possible. And I think it's more possible the more ordinary people you have serving in those offices, not career politicians, not people who are looking to have a stepping stone to something else, but people who are doing it because they really want to serve.
00:35:06
Speaker
I think that's where we're going to get progress. And so for me, trying to help other people think about running for office, trying to support that effort is really important because we need lots of different kinds of people in state government. Yeah, for sure. Because you are a big advocate of that. I know when I told some friends about you, I'm like,
00:35:26
Speaker
The fact that you actually wanted to get coffee and learn about student loans and you want to talk to my wife because she's a teacher. You actually want to do these things. So you actually have proven that you want to serve and learn and hear multiple stories that people have to give. So it's really cool that you're doing that change.
00:35:43
Speaker
Well, and at the heart of it, I think everyone wants to feel that they matter. And, you know, if I can do one thing as a state legislator, which I think is something I try to do as a hospital chaplain and as a minister, is to show people that they matter and everybody matters and the things that they experience and the stories they have to tell are important.
00:36:05
Speaker
And so how do you really honor that in the people that you're serving? And I think that's a gift that legislators can give to the people they're serving and representing. And it's a skill we can all work on and be better at.
00:36:20
Speaker
Right. It's funny because I've been just thinking about questions and people want to know they matter. I think people want to be known and they also want to be accepted. And that's why faith has been so big in my life, right? It's because I feel like those three answered, like faith for me answered all three of those.
00:36:40
Speaker
Um, so that's super cool. So what's the future? So, okay, full disclosure, we're, we're recording this before your reelection and then it's going to air after she's reelected. So she's probably the next you're going to be president. I bet. I don't know, but you'll probably be reelected. You probably reelected, uh, hopefully. And what does that look like first? Like just thinking about this whole process.
00:37:01
Speaker
So the next five weeks are just pretty intense and it's been intense for me for a while. I had to actually move so I could continue to serve in this district. They changed the lines that happens every 10 years. It didn't work out very good for me. And so we actually had to sell our house, moved to West Des Moines and we've been working on this house. It's been chaos starting over. It's hard. Yeah.
00:37:22
Speaker
But there's always good things that come from change. And I'm door knocking constantly and working really hard to raise money because that's a big part of a political campaign. It's not fair, but that's a big piece of it.
Reflecting on Political Future
00:37:37
Speaker
And then, you know, whatever happens on November 8th.
00:37:42
Speaker
I know that there are opportunities for me to serve. And I don't know what will come next. Because honestly, I never planned on becoming a minister. I never planned on running for state senate. You could be working with us on commonwealth at some point. Who knows? I actually thought about becoming a thrivent agent. Don't do that, but you can definitely work here.
00:38:02
Speaker
That's another financial company. But I'm open to the possibilities. I honestly never imagined I'd be living in Iowa. It's something that an opportunity presented itself. So I'm open to how I'm called to serve. And I really do feel like it's a calling. And I just really, really hope after November 8th, I can have a break.
00:38:24
Speaker
and spend time with my family who they've sacrificed so much to let me do this. And they deserve some time with their mom who's not distracted and not preoccupied, gone, being present. And so for me, that's just the, that's the important thing. And then, you know, and even if you get elected, you feel like you'll have that reprieve, right?
00:38:45
Speaker
Yeah, there'll be a little bit of a break before the legislative session starts in January. But there's always things to do. And I have constituents reaching out for assistance all the time. Just in the last week, I tried to help a family find drug treatment for their child. And there's another person with housing issues I was trying to assist with and someone else with an insurance issue that they were trying to navigate. So we can help people in a lot of ways. And that's time consuming to do it well.
00:39:15
Speaker
and to show up for people in those ways. And then I spent a lot of time learning about the community too, so I can help better. So having those meetings and site visits and things, they really educate me, but you know, I'm excited for the future because I've seen so many people who really care about their communities and I've gotten to meet so many wonderful folks in the course of this, these last two elections that I feel really good about Iowa and our future.
00:39:44
Speaker
Um, but again, it's about helping people know how to use their energy and time in a way that's really going to make a difference. Absolutely. Yeah. One thing I'm going to throw out there for everybody, the people to actually go vote and do these things is cause you told me when we were grabbing coffee, like didn't hit me until you said it. And it's kind of, you don't, you have to like re apply for your job every two years and you get paid for this, right? Let's hope. Yes.
00:40:10
Speaker
Um, legislators get paid $25,000 a year. Okay. And our legislative session is January through April, but sometimes it runs over and we work all year round. Right. Yeah. Don't think that you want to work four months. So most of us, if we're not retired or independently wealthy, have another job. And I'm, I'm, I work for the area's largest food pantry network, DMARC. And so they've been very flexible with me and how I scheduled my time. And sure.
00:40:38
Speaker
the tasks that I do. So I just kind of work all the time. And Will still works at Drake? He's a professor at Drake, yeah. And so he's got wonderful students and he's doing really interesting work. He does actually research on marijuana legalization. Interesting. So what's the best person you'd be interested in talking to? Yeah, let's go. He's uncommon. Let's rock.
00:40:59
Speaker
That's so cool. That's awesome. Sarah, I'm grateful that you shared your story, and I'm super encouraged, and love that's your heart to serve God's people in whatever capacity. I think that is, what a life-giving thing. There's a lot of people who have their own agenda, but to be able to serve people, meet them where they're at, pray on them, love on them, however you do, is really encouraging. Well, and thank you for giving people the opportunity to share their story. There's something really powerful in that, and it's a really great experience, so thank you.
00:41:29
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Are you kidding me? It's been a great episode. Just start our own, the whole website launch, the whole new podcast name. And I feel like you are living your own uncommon life. And so thank you for being on the Uncommon Wealth Podcast. I've been your host, Philip Ramsey. I'm Aaron Kramer. Thanks for tuning in. Until next time, go be in common and live your own life. Thank you so much, Sarah.
00:41:50
Speaker
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