One Of The Best Podcasts Of The Year: The Purple Principle

It's December, so it's that time again. No, not for Christmas or Hanukkah. It's for those incessant Best Of The Year" lists that invade your inbox, newsfeed and social media accounts.

In the spirit of giving, I've decided to nix the list and simply mention one of the many excellent podcasts that caressed our ears and fortified our minds as we battled the twin evils of the pandemic and those who decided that facts and truth no longer matter.

According to reporter Paul Briand of The Portsmouth Herald, “The Purple Principle is a podcast seeking political middle ground in the U.S. The podcast interviews media experts, political scientists, neuro and social psychologists, social media experts, comedians, artists and legislators to get a broad perspective on how we got so partisan in the U.S. and what can possibly be done to help.”

The podcast launched its first episode in mid-June titled appropriately enough, "Priming With Purple: a 360 Degree View of Partisanship."

The Purple Principle (https://purpleprinciple.com/) is an outgrowth of Fluent Knowledge LLC, created by Robert Pease – the host of the podcast to explore, as he said, “if our red and blue factions can blend into a healthier shade of purple.”

 “We’re concerned about growing partisanship affecting American politics, society, and daily life. A short time ago, Americans could discuss important topics in civil and rational ways,” Pease said in the debut podcast from June 19.

“But today,” he added, “any issue is immediately polarized. We’ve politicized religion, weather, and now viruses. Apple pie might be next: Who picked these apples? How much were they paid? And this Granny Smith character is she a Democrat or Republican? Yet, only a few decades ago our elected representatives could have disagreements, but still reach compromise.”

Pease describes himself as a life-long independent, first attracted to the middle ground of presidential politics in 1980 with the campaign of Republican Illinois Congressman John Anderson who ran as an independent.

During its first season, the podcast has tackled such issues as your brain hooked on partisan politics, media spin, the lack of a third party. An episode in late October took a deep dive into Alaska's Ballot Measure # 2, which would create an open, unified primary system, institute ranked choice voting and regulate greater campaign transparency. The measure did pass by a tiny margin of four thousand votes.

The podcast, which is not affiliated with any of the major podcast networks, recently attracted the attention of The New York Times, which wrote:

"America’s partisan divide is at its highest in decades. How did we get here? And is there any fixing it? “The Purple Principle” makes the case that party-unafilliated Americans have a role to play in bridging political divisions. Because even as it feels as if partisanship has become more extreme and entrenched lately, the number of independent and unaffiliated voters has actually risen in the past few decades, accounting for 35 to 40 percent of the electorate. 

"To understand the minds of independent voters and the hidden sway they yield, this show talks to professional mediators, stand-up comedians, neuropsychologists, economists, writers and politicians across the political spectrum. Together, the show argues for harnessing the power and position of nonpartisan-minded Americans to affect the electoral system and change the troubling trend toward division."

The podcast takes well-deserved jabs at Democrats and Republicans. In Episode two, for example, Dr. Charles Wheelan – the founder of the nonpartisan group Unite America – is interviewed about his experience as a Republican speechwriter and Democratic candidate for Congress. In a fascinating memory, Wheeler recalls his speech in front of teachers as a Democratic candidate where the educators found his support of performance-based teacher pay perplexing because it wasn't the “boilerplate” Democratic position.

As a home-brewed podcast, it won’t overwhelm listeners with unnecessarily expensive audio features, but Pease is an excellent host with a peripatetic mind and wide-ranging curiosity who soothes listeners with a thoughtful tone while exploding sacred cows about the sanctity and relevance of the U.S.’s two-party monopoly.

The podcast flows on many levels – smooth narrative, incisive interviewing and assumption-smashing ideas – thanks to the five-person team responsible for The Purple Principle podcasts: Pease as creator/producer; Sarah Holtz, producer/senior editor; Janice Murphy, director of marketing/senior editor; Emily Crocette, reporter and researcher; Kevin Kline, sound engineer.

In addition, the podcast’s website is full of statistical bread crumbs that spotlight the hyper-partisan age we live in. The website includes what are called “Bits of Purple” – shorter segments that aren’t full-fledged podcasts. One on social media and partisanship is a conversation with Dr. Robert Elliott Smith, author of “Rage Inside the Machine: The Prejudice of Algorithms, and How to Stop the Internet Making Bigots of Us All.”


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In its recent review of the podcast, it wrote: "Another outstanding podcast that embraces the spirit of bipartisanship is The Purple Principle. This intriguing series explores the paradox that even as political divisions in the US have become more extreme and entrenched in recent decades, the number of independent and unaffiliated voters has actually grown – to more than 35% of the electorate. The hosts speak to professional mediators, stand-up comedians, psychologists, economists, writers and politicians in an effort to understand what’s going on."

The podcast also addresses a key point about political moderation. Often derided as "fence-sitters" and "compromisers," political moderation isn't simply the space left over from the political left and right. It's a universe full of crisp, vibrant ideas not restrained by the handcuffs of political ideology. 

For those listeners exhausted from hyper-partisan sniping, name-calling and demonizing, The Purple Principle offers a thoughtful escape from the echo chambers of the left and right and presents a more reasoned, solutions-driven approach to government. 

Check it out at The Purple Principle.