Washington Isn’t Broken...It’s Fixed!

image
Author: John Opdycke
Published: 16 Feb, 2018
Updated: 21 Nov, 2022
1 min read

Welcome to The Pickle podcast. My ambitions are high. I want to interview political, reform, independent, business, creative, nonprofit, entrepreneurial, and cultural movers and shakers about the pickle we are in as a country and as a world.

For me, the pickle is found in our huge capacity to innovate running smack dab against systemic community underdevelopment and the obsolescence of the partisan model. But that's me. I spend my days working to end closed partisan primaries and shake up our calcified and partisan electoral system. I want to talk with other people about how and what they see.

My first episode is a recording of a recent public interview I conducted with Katherine Gehl. Katherine is the co-author (with Harvard Professor Michael Porter) of a recent Harvard Business School report titled, “Why Competition in the Politics Industry is Failing America.”

It's a great report.  We were able to discuss in depth how the political duopoly stays afloat and what to do about it.

We had a fascinating conversation, myself, Katherine, and 164 open primaries activists from around the country. A highlight for me was Katherine describing her journey from supporting candidates, to supporting issues, to supporting bi-partisan cooperation, to now supporting wholesale structural reform.

Over the next many months, I plan on interviewing lots of interesting people. If you have guest ideas, show ideas, topic ideas, please shoot me a note at jopdycke@openprimaries.org.  I'd like to hear from the IVN community about this new podcast as I get going.

Latest articles

An electric sign of the American flag.
ABC's Sara Haines Calls Out 'Narrow View' that Independent Voters Can't Exist in Trump Era
American journalist and co-host of ABC’s The View, Sara Haines, refutes the notion that people can't be independent-minded in their election choices in an era in which the Republican Party is controlled by Trump – a perspective voiced by her colleague, Sunny Houstin that Haines describes as “narrow.”...
06 Jun, 2025
-
3 min read
US map divided in blue and red with a white ballot box on top.
Could Maine Be the First State to Exit the National Popular Vote Compact?
On May 20, the Maine House of Representatives voted 76–71 to withdraw the state from the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC), reversing course just over a year after Maine became the 17th jurisdiction to join the agreement....
04 Jun, 2025
-
3 min read
New York City
Nine Democrats Face Off in NYC Mayoral Debate as Ranked Choice Voting, Cuomo Probe, and Independent Bid from Adams Reshape the Race
A crowded field of nine Democratic candidates will take the stage tonight, June 4, in the first official debate of the 2025 New York City mayoral primary. Held at NBC’s 30 Rock studios and co-sponsored by the city’s Campaign Finance Board, NBC 4 New York, Telemundo 47, and POLITICO New York, the debate comes at a pivotal moment in a race already shaped by political upheaval, criminal investigations, and the unique dynamics of ranked choice voting....
04 Jun, 2025
-
6 min read