The Great Battlefield logo
A podcast about the Fight
to Save our Democracy
Photo of Nathaniel G. Pearlman
HOST: NATHANIEL G. PEARLMAN
Nathaniel has a long history in progressive politics. In 1997, he founded NGP Software, Inc. (now known as NGP VAN) now a sizable company that is the leading technology provider to the Democratic Party, its campaigns, and to progressive organizations. He served as chief technology officer of the Hillary 2008 Presidential campaign. He also founded Graphicacy, a firm that helps mission-based organizations tell complex stories in visual form, and Timeplots, which creates information graphic products. Nathaniel really enjoys talking to progressive political leaders, thinkers, entrepreneurs and technologists, and others who are working on protecting and improving our democracy.
The great battlefield podcast

A great political battle is being fought right now for the soul of our country.

That fight is in large part between progressives and what they used to call “forces of reaction.” Those are people, like Trump, Trumpists and the Tea Party Republicans, who don’t like recent changes to our society that they feel are eroding their standing. They are reactionary conservatives, and want to take us backward to a supposedly better time. They are willing to make changes that traditional conservatives usually avoid, including undermining longstanding norms and institutions.

The battle is also between those who believe in American democracy and those who are willing to undermine it for their own benefits.

And this of course oversimplifies things, as there are people of good will and good intentions on both sides.

In this podcast I have been talking to the people who:

  • are organizing marches
  • and organizing people to show up at town hall meetings
  • and calling their members of Congress
  • are building political technology,
  • are starting and running progressive organizations,
  • are working for campaigns and for the Democratic party,
  • who are tracking what the administration is up to and contesting it
  • who are thinking and writing and researching and analyzing what is going on
  • who are working to improve our democracy and how the government treats us, whether from partisan or nonpartisan angle

I’ve sought to talk to people across a pretty wide ideological range, from quite far on the left, to Republicans and former Republicans who can’t stand Trump.

I want to help us understand how the progressive ecosystem and the pro-Democracy ecosystem fits together and who is doing good work

I am interested in leaders in this fight, many of whom are what I call political entrepreneurs

They are leading the Democratic party and other progressive organizations.

Some are even acting as political venture capitalists, evaluating different progressive political projects and deciding which to support.

What these political entrepreneurs have in common is a belief that I find inspiring; that we don’t need to accept how things are, that change is possible, and, that they can make it happen.

I’m learning what they are doing so that we can promote their organizations and participate in what they are doing.

I want to connect with others who have ideas about how to resist Trump’s brand of leadership and understand what is going on and learn how to help.

I want our country to be governed by people at all levels who I can look up to again, who have a true concern for the general welfare.

I am interviewing political entrepreneurs who have ideas and projects and organizations that are part of the progressive force and others with knowledge about what is going on in the fight.

They are energetic smart people and I find it interesting to see how they came to be involved.

It is inspiring to see people tackle something they care about.

Maybe you want to become a political entrepreneur or leader yourself?

If you tap into the real concerns of your fellow citizens, you can make a difference.

That is what the Great Battlefield podcast is about.

The Great Battlefield Podcast has joined The Democracy Group, a network of podcasts that examines what’s broken in our democracy and how we can work together to fix it.

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