The Purple Principle: A Podcast On The Perils Of Polarization

 There is no third party in the U.S. that is made up of political moderates. To support bipartisanship and compromise for the greater good is lonely and likely to make you unpopular with Democrats and Republicans. Therefore, there is no “built-in” audience for a moderate podcast.
 
The two political parties have ended all outreach to voters other than their bases years ago. So even the best podcast that fosters greater understanding like Left Right & Center has no actionable endgame. The Republicans rhetorically pistol whip their moderates with the “RHINO” tag (Republican in name only) and Democrats accuse their moderates of a host of crimes ranging from corruption to treason.

The way to attract attention in today's media landscape is to scream the loudest and say the craziest things. It’s the Rush Limbaugh strategy, and he employed it quite effectively. These politically charged podcasts have learned that the more “crazy they exhibit” the higher their downloads because the political base now takes notice.

Finally, moderate podcasts often spend their air time talking about solutions. Crime? Child care costs? Housing shortage and affordability? Climate change?

As podcast consultant George Witt observes, “Voters today are more interested in assigning blame for a problem than finding solutions to that problem.”

That's why The Purple Principle is such a refreshing change. This New Hampshire-based show bills itself like this: “An award-winning, non-partisan podcast for independent-minded Americans exploring the perils of partisanship in U.S. politics, society, and daily life.”

What I like about the podcast is its focus on being independent-minded. A key theme on the show is that moderates often think more deeply and more analytically than ideologically pure people who simply just mimic their party’s position without much introspection.

Small steps toward change

So what’s my bottom-line here?

Simple. If we ingest news and opinion that promotes only one side of politics, society and culture, we will think only one way, like a machine programmed so that its operating system can only function like, well, a computer.

But if we make the leap to opening the gates to varying opinions, we perhaps can understand better what others are thinking, and why they are thinking that way.

Here’s a two-liner I believe summarizes how polarization has affected us. We have two parts of our brain — left and right. In the left side, there’s nothing right. In the right side, there’s nothing left.”

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 US and what can possibly be done to help.”

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

“But today,” Pease 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.

Educated at Princeton and Brandeis University, Pease, a former Fulbright Scholar, has graduate degrees in political science and economics and has worked as a journalist, executive recruiter and nonprofit administrator, living in Japan, Singapore and China for many years.

“I’ve benefited from living abroad and looking at my country from afar, and living in a one-party state and seeing how dangerous that can be, then coming back to the U.S. and feeling that, although we’re certainly not a one-party state, we’re like two versions of one party,” he said. “I’m old enough to remember that it wasn’t always that way. There was more communication, more overlap, more healthy dialogue, more respect, and more stability.”

In this current season, The Purple Principle is focusing on election reform issues such as ranked-choice voting and open primaries. Both reforms have been shown to reduce extremism and polarization and enable more voter participation.

Does any podcast whose message is “let’s find common ground” have a chance?

Moderation. Being in the Center. Non-Partisan. Independent. These words slowly slide into obsolescence as the hyper-partisans on the left and the right demand “you’re either with us or against us.” 

The Purple Principle is a podcast that promotes healthy dialogue about policy and politics. It's sorely needed in today's world.