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

Trump Trush Social Post on Colbert
Will Politics Kill Late Night TV?
Stephen Colbert’s Late Show is ending after nearly a decade at the top of the ratings. CBS insists t...
18 Jul, 2025
-
3 min read
Ronald Reagan
Just Say No: The Political Hit Job That Killed Cannabis
As cannabis use became more common in the late 1970s, the backlash grew even stronger. A political and religious conservative resurgence was underway after years of liberal ascendancy. That wave would soon bring former California Governor Ronald Reagan to the White House....
18 Jul, 2025
-
8 min read
Political cartoon of a person representing partisanship, unions, the Democratic Party, and Special Interests taking a bite out of New York.
Mamdani, Lander, and Other Partisan Extremists Just Took a Bite Out of NYC’s Democracy
The partisans, unions, and party bosses have won again. Independents, veterans, working people, young people and democracy have lost again. ...
18 Jul, 2025
-
2 min read