Coalition Purple

If you follow Coalition Purple you are probably exhaustedwith the unproductive conversations happening between two very divided camps. In this episode we discuss some sensitive topics with the kind of nuance wethink the subject matter deserves. We need to have a rational conversation about immigrationand the human beings who do the work that contributes to our economy and standard of living. Rathe...

Coalition Purple went into overtime this week. There are so many important issues to discuss so we strayed from our focus on California politics. The recent gambit of dueling Presidential pardons is a big problem. The point of pardons is to provide checks and balances to governmental or judicial overreach. Unfortunately, they have turned into the conferring of immunity and we’re not sure that’s Co...

We need to build and maintain better water infrastructure. And we need to get our electrical infrastructure safely underground. Yes, this is simple stuff. It’s easy to say it hasn’t been done because it’s so expensive, but if you think about how much we pay in taxes and how much we will need to spend in the aftermath of the Los Angeles fires it seems like a good investment to us. That’s the proble...

Well, most will probably agree that 2025 has gotten off to a rocky start… especially here in Southern California. We first want to express our sadness and empathy for so many who’ve lost so much (if not everything…including their lives).  Wildfires are nothing new to us who’ve lived here for a while.  But this time things are different.  It’s been a sad lesson on how ill-prepared we are for major...

We recorded the weekend before Christmas to wrap up 2024 here at Coalition Purple! And like our demands that politicians be more transparent... we're walking the talk in this episode! You get to experience our first major technical meltdown! No editing or sugar-coating here. You see us in our raw form as always. The end of the year is a good time to start embracing change so we discuss ways that o...

The winds are blowing here in California so naturally the power is turned off in some places in order to prevent fires. It seems like a better solution would be to fix the power grid infrastructure. We think some of the billions of dollars Gavin Newsom is spending on failing programs and lawsuits against his political enemies could be used for this purpose. California used to be a model for the re...

The year is almost over and like most people we are reflecting on all the crazy events of 2024. This always happens at the end of the year. You get together with friends and family around the holidays and talk to people from different generations. We’ve decided it’s not just nostalgia when people from our parents’ generation talk about how good things used to be in California. We also remember whe...

Because we have a freeform podcast at Coalition Purple, we’ve decided our motto is “Politics Without a Plan.” It occurred to us that this would also be a good description of California politics. Our politicians seem to focus more on raising money and maintaining power rather than creating good policy. Add a lack of imagination and you get problems like intractable debt, complicated bureaucracy, an...

Stuck in the Post-Election Doldrums? Here's a bright spot: At least the pollsters have stopped calling! Although we can't find anybody who's every talked to a pollster! Until Donald Trump takes office in January, a lot of people here in the United States are in political limbo. But fear not! This transition period hasn’t stopped Coalition Purple from having a stimulating conversation about politic...

we’re still standing two days after the Presidential election and we’ve decided that November 5th should be known as Independent’s Day. After all, Independent voters decide the elections. And we are ok with that because we think there should be no “safe states” for any candidate.  So how do we change things so that candidates have to work for our votes? We decided if the candidates can come up wit...

By this time next week the 2024 election will be over and we will have a new administration ready to takeover the White House… Oh wait, that’s too optimistic. This is the election that will go on and on and on. All we can say is that whenever it resolves each side needs to do some soul searching. And that includes all of us. The only way to end this madness is to stop contributing to it. At the in...

In this episode we reflect on our podcast journey. It’s taken us about a year, but we think we’ve finally figured out what we can do in future episodes to move things forward for third parties and Independent candidates. Check out the full episode for our ideas and let us know what you think.    We know this post-election reckoning is not going to be easy, and we are here to tell you not to get di...

Bill is back in town and ready to discuss the important issues of the day despite his travel-weary brain. He’s no longer feeling braindead after John piqued his interest in a couple of recent lawsuits related to campaign fundraising and transparency regarding how our tax money is spent. The takeaways this week are... If you have an email account that you are no longer using, make sure it’s not bei...

It’s official. Bill is going to have to go underground for a while. Getting rid of his contact information is the only way to escape the constant barrage of phone calls, emails, and flyers from his former political party. He’s tried hitting Stop and Unsubscribe, but it does no good. But never fear. We will still be doing our podcast. Here’s a list of things we agreed we should stop doing: 1. Roof...

Well, John forgot, but it’s our one-year anniversary here at Coalition Purple! We are celebrating a year since October 9, 2023 with 30 episodes under our belts. And for good reason. Although we have different political backgrounds and opinions, we still enjoy getting together for a beer and we see each other once a week to talk politics. We figure, if we can do it, why can’t everyone else? It’s al...

Just when we thought things could not get any crazier in our divided political world, we find out that even the Teamsters are not endorsing a Presidential candidate. If that’s not reason enough to have more political parties and coalitions, we’ll give you some more… Are we doxxing kids now? We’re not sure that this is the best way to deal with behavioral problems in the school system. Are governme...

We both survived the heat this past week, but things are still heating up in California. The fire and homelessness problems are still out of control here. Plus, we had to suffer through the Presidential debate, and we’re not sure anything of substance was really discussed. Yet, we keep voting the same way and for the same parties. That’s the definition of crazy, right?   A lot of Californians are...

Two events in the past week got John and Bill focused on how a Third Political Party could break the logjam that keeps so many people fighting each other.   Yet again another senseless school shooting has most people saying “stop, we need to try something different.”  The reality is nothing has (or will) change in any meaningful way when extremists on each side of the gun debate continue to paraly...

Bill and John are at odds over the ethics of how the Dems and GOP conducted recent election primaries.  But one thing the boys agree on is that just having two choices really stinks.  The existing political machinery is simply not good for America… and the theatrics of it all (going on and on and on) is exhausting. But step 1 to get out of this hole is to start a bunch of civil discussions among n...

Most people naturally think presidential politics when considering a third party.  And usually that means 1) a third-party candidate would spoil things for a favorite candidate; and/or 2) the entire idea is futile because of the GOP-Democrat duopoly. So we again remind folks... here at headquarters that our focus is on the support for local and state third parties.  The local level is where the ac...

The party platforms of the Dems and GOP are largely ignored by most voters (hey, regurgitating history should be left to high schoolers).  All the words are repeated over-and-over in the “UniParty” platforms… pandering to voters’ emotions rather than focusing on how to get things done. Well, we’re taking a different approach for our dream third political party.  Focus on incentivizing leaders to d...

Political name-calling has gotten so ridiculous that now labeling your political opponent as [insert your least favorite dictator, cultural reference or school yard bully here] is as useless as a dead skunk (no offense to skunks).   Most normal people are now exhausted by the antics. They turn the channel when it comes to political discourse. But that leaves a huge void in terms of actual, constru...

Here’s the deal.  If you live in any state besides  Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona or Nevada, you can rest assured your vote for a third party presidential candidate will NOT threaten Joe Biden or Donald Trump. You see, the two major candidates have realistically won their share of the other 43 states regardless of your vote.  Trump will cruise to a win in plac...

Season 2 | Episode 6 The groundswell of support for more political options beyond Dems and GOP has never been stronger. So, why do third parties and their candidates struggle to gain traction?  Well, it’s complicated as John and Bill discuss.  Quick look at history shows the policies of many third parties are wildly popular… only to be hijacked by candidates who go way too far with some radical id...

Countries like Brazil, Austria and Nigeria require every citizen to enter non-military “public service” programs. The idea is to provide relatively low-cost support for vexing social problems like homelessness… and also build pride in the country and respect for other cultures. Could mandatory service be an answer to find needed human resources to help with everything from homeless programs to cle...