Pacific Time: West Coast What-Ifs

Algorithms increasingly decide what we watch, hear, and discover.

Commercial radio has collapsed into repetition and ad inventory. Streaming platforms optimize for engagement over surprise. Public media faces political and financial pressure. And across the internet, culture itself increasingly feels automated.

And yet somehow, a scrappy Seattle-born radio station has become one of the most trusted and beloved music institutions on Earth.

In this episode of Pacific Time, Ethan Raup joins us. Ethan is the CEO of KEXP, the legendary independent public music organization that grew from a tiny University of Washington college radio station into a global cultural force with billions of YouTube views and listeners around the world.

But this conversation goes far beyond music.

Instead, it's a deeper exploration of what happens when institutions refuse to optimize themselves into blandness. Raup explains why KEXP avoids chasing demographics, why human DJs still matter in the age of AI and algorithms, and how local culture can survive while scaling globally.

The discussion also explores Seattle’s historic music ecosystem, the Bay Area expansion of KEXP, the collapse of commercial radio, the future of public media after federal funding cuts, and why community-supported institutions may become increasingly important across the West Coast.

For the Pacific Coast, KEXP may represent something bigger than radio: a blueprint for how culture stays human in a digital age.

About Our Guest

Ethan Raup is CEO of KEXP, the iconic Seattle-based independent public music organization known globally for its live in-studio performances, eclectic music programming, and fiercely human approach to radio. Since joining KEXP more than a decade ago, Ethan has helped guide the station’s expansion into digital media, global audiences, and the San Francisco Bay Area while preserving its deeply local, artist-centered ethos.

About Us

Greg Amrofell is founder and host of Pacific Time, a podcast exploring the political, economic, cultural, and technological future of the West Coast. A former technology executive and business leader, Greg focuses on how the West Coast are responding to institutional distrust, climate disruption, economic transformation, and shifting ideas about identity, governance, and community.

Ashley Brown is co-host of Pacific Time and a senior marketing executive with deep expertise in branding, communications, and democratic systems analysis. His work explores political reform, civic identity, institutional trust, and the cultural forces shaping modern societies across the West Coast and beyond.

Key Themes & Highlights

Human DJs vs. Algorithms
Why KEXP believes “commercial radio is broken” and why human-curated discovery still matters in an increasingly automated media landscape.

Seattle’s Music Ecosystem
How local venues, rehearsal spaces, record stores, and community institutions helped build one of the world’s most influential music cultures—and why those ecosystems are under pressure today.

From College Radio to Global Platform
The accidental rise of KEXP’s YouTube empire, its billions of global views, and how authenticity became its competitive advantage.

Why KEXP Expanded to the Bay Area
The logic behind KEXP’s move into San Francisco, what it says about West Coast regional identity, and why the Bay Area represented both a vacuum and an opportunity.

Public Media After Federal Defunding
What happens when public media loses federal support—and why Ethan believes stronger local identity and community connection may ultimately create more resilient institutions.

Staying Human While Scaling
How KEXP tries to preserve curiosity, intimacy, and artistic risk-taking even as it becomes a larger and more influential global organization.

Related Episodes

Ep 45: Is San Francisco Back? (with Sean Elsbernd, SPUR)
Ep 23: Refresh the American Brand, West Coast First? (With Michael Megalli)

Spicy Question

If even music discovery becomes automated, optimized, and centralized, what happens to the local cultures and communities that once made the West Coast feel creative and weird?

Follow & Listen

Follow Pacific Time on your favorite platform and join the conversation across Substack, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

San Francisco is dead! Long live, San Francisco! 

Or, maybe it's not so simple? The City by the Bay has always been a bellwether for the West Coast—economically, culturally, and politically. But in recent years, San Francisco, in particular, has faced a cascade of challenges: empty downtown offices, housing shortages, public safety concerns, and a lingering post-pandemic identity crisis.

Is San Francisco back? Or, do its challenges illuminate what’s coming to big cities everywhere?

In this episode of Pacific Time, Sean Elsbernd joins us. Sean is the CEO of SPUR, the Bay Area’s leading public policy center and he helps us unpack the real story behind the headlines. This is not a boosterish take, nor is it a doom loop.

Instead, it’s a clear-eyed conversation about what’s actually working, what isn’t, and what it will take for the whole San Francisco Bay Area to build on its deserved reputation for technical and social innovation. From downtown revitalization to housing reform, from governance challenges to regional cooperation, Elsbernd offers a pragmatic blueprint for recovery—and a candid assessment of the obstacles ahead.

For the West Coast, San Francisco is a test case.

About Our Guest
Sean Elsbernd is the CEO of SPUR (the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association), one of the region’s most influential public policy organizations. A former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and longtime civic leader, Elsbernd brings deep experience in urban governance, housing, and regional policy.

Key Themes & Highlights

• SF: Narrative vs Reality
  Why San Francisco’s reputation has diverged so sharply from on-the-ground trends—and what data actually says about recovery.
• Downtown’s Existential Pivot
  The shift from office-centric urban core to a mixed-use future—and whether conversion strategies can succeed, while key infrastructure like transit work with shaky finances.
• Housing: The Core Constraint
  Why affordability remains the defining issue—and what meaningful reform would actually require politically.
• Governance & Fragmentation
  How local politics, regional coordination, and state policy interact—and where they break down.
• A Blueprint for Renewal
  Elsbernd’s pragmatic view on what must happen next—and what could still go wrong.

Related Episodes

• Ep 10: What If Blue Cities Got It Together? (with Sandeep Kaushik)
• Ep 11: What If Silicon Valley and Democracy Got Back Together? (with Margaret O’Malley)
• Ep 42: Affordability, Impeachment, or ICE Rollbacks? What’s a Congressional Candidate To Do? (with Brandon Riker)

🌶️ Spicy Question
If San Francisco can’t solve housing, governance, and public safety at the same time as it asserts itself as the world leader in AI—does it risk losing its reputation as the West Coast’s flagship city?

Follow & Listen
Follow, like and share Pacific Time on your favorite podcast platform and join the conversation across Substack, LinkedIn, YouTube, and social channels.

Washington just passed a “millionaire’s tax”—but the real story is what it reveals about a broken system.

For decades, Washington State has operated the most regressive tax system in the country. High sales taxes, heavy reliance on consumption, and no income tax have created a structure where lower-income households pay a larger share of their income than the wealthy.

Now, lawmakers have approved a 9.9% tax on income above $1 million. Supporters call it a step toward fairness. Critics warn it could push wealth and investment elsewhere. But there’s a catch: the tax won’t take effect until 2028, and it won’t generate revenue until 2029.

So what just happened?

In this episode of Pacific Time, Greg Amrofell and Ashley Brown step back from the headlines to examine a deeper question: not whether this tax is good policy, but whether Washington’s entire tax system is built for the modern economy.

The conversation moves beyond the usual talking points to explore the underlying tensions shaping tax debates across the West Coast. Washington is a fast-growing, innovation-driven state, yet its revenue system is volatile and structurally imbalanced. Efforts to fix that imbalance tend to oscillate between politically popular ideas and economically uncertain outcomes.

What emerges is a more fundamental challenge. Can a state meaningfully improve fairness by targeting a small group of high earners? Or does real reform require a broader reset—one that rethinks how revenue is raised altogether?

This episode considers the possibility of a larger “grand bargain”: a modern, broad-based income tax paired with reductions in regressive consumption taxes. It’s a path that would be difficult, politically risky, and likely require constitutional change—but one that could offer a more stable and equitable foundation for the future.

Seen in that light, the millionaire’s tax is less a solution than a signal. It reflects a growing recognition that the current system isn’t working—even if consensus on what comes next remains elusive. It also points to the very similar debate taking shape in California and around the country.

Highlights

• Why Washington’s tax system is considered among the most regressive in the United States
• The case for and against a tax targeting high-income households
• What the data actually suggests about people and businesses leaving high-tax states
• The constitutional challenge that could determine whether this policy survives
• How revenue volatility creates instability for budgeting and long-term planning
• Why small businesses and working families sit at the center of the current system’s tensions
• The idea of a comprehensive “grand bargain” to redesign how Washington raises revenue

About the Hosts

• Greg Amrofell is the creator and co-host of Pacific Time and an entrepreneur focused on big “what if” questions about the future of the West Coast.
• Ashley Brown is co-host of Pacific Time, a strategist and policy thinker with a deep interest in governance, political systems, and how institutional design shapes economic outcomes.

Related Pacific Time Episodes

• Sorry, Not Sorry? Canada Broke Up with the U.S.
• Can We Grab Economic Power By the Middle?
• What if Public Banks Bought Us Resilience?
  
  

Spicy Questions 🌶️

• What would make for a dramatically simpler and more equitable tax system on the West Coast?
• What if Washington State shed the chip on its shoulder about the weather, embraced the advantages (clean air, clean water, gorgeous landscapes, cheap hydro power, and progressive values), and stopped assuming it needed tax advantages to persuade businesses to start here and pro athletes to play here?

For decades, the U.S.–Canada relationship was the most stable economic partnership in the world. Deep trade integration. Shared institutions. Quiet cooperation across the longest peaceful border on Earth.

That assumption is no longer safe as an increasingly unreliable U.S. becomes a 'bad guy' on the world stage, and a particularly bad neighbor.

In this episode of Pacific Time, Greg Amrofell and Ashley Brown unpack a startling shift in North American politics: Canada is beginning to imagine a future without the United States at the center of its economic and security strategy. Witness Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos. Without naming the United States directly, Carney declared that the world is experiencing “a rupture, not a transition.”

That statement raises a provocative question: Is the U.S.–Canada relationship entering its post-American phase?

Greg and Ashley explore how escalating tariffs, collapsing trust in U.S. leadership, and rising geopolitical uncertainty are forcing Canada — and the Pacific Northwest — to rethink their economic futures.

This conversation examines the potential consequences for trade, energy, technology, and political alliances across the West Coast. If Canada truly begins decoupling from the United  States, what does it mean for Cascadia?.

Highlights

• Why Mark Carney’s Davos speech sounded like a diplomatic breakup note
• How Trump’s tariffs changed Canada’s strategic calculations
• Why U.S.–Canada economic integration may be entering a new phase
• The West Coast’s unique vulnerability to a Canada–U.S. rupture
• What a new Pacific economic alignment could look like
• Whether Cascadia could become a bridge between two diverging economies

About the Hosts

• Greg Amrofell is the host of Pacific Time and an entrepreneur who explores big “What if?” questions about the future of the West Coast.
• Ashley Brown is a marketing executive and policy analyst who writes about political systems, governance, and international affairs.

Related Resources

• Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s 2026 Davos Speech
• U.S.–Canada Trade Data (U.S. Census Bureau)
• Is Canada on a forked road away from North America? | Brookings
• Pacific Time Substack

Related Pacific Time Episodes

• West Coast Wake-up Call as the US Scrambles the World Order? with John Zysman
• What If Nature Defined Our Borders in the Cascadia Bioregion? with Yogi Uriah
• Refresh the American Brand, West Coast First? with Michael Megalli

Spicy Question

If the U.S.–Canada relationship fractures, should the West Coast deepen its economic ties with Canada — even if Washington doesn’t?

Join the conversation on Substack.

Housing is unaffordable. Healthcare is fragile. Wages lag costs. And Congress, well, Congress is paralyzed by spectacle.

The affordability crisis is no longer abstract — it’s the organizing reality of American life. Housing, healthcare, childcare, energy, and education costs are squeezing households. Congress competes for attention, trying to score short-lived popularity points, and seems take pride in how little it can get done for constituents.

In this episode of Pacific Time, Greg Amrofell and Ashley Brown speak with Brandon Riker, a California congressional candidate, not to spotlight a campaign — but to interrogate the economic choices Congress is avoiding. This is a conversation about governing tradeoffs: what actually matters when everything is supposedly an emergency, and why affordability may be the only issue capable of cutting through institutional dysfunction. What if the House of Representatives reasserts the power of the purse?

The discussion ranges from the political costs of confronting affordability head-on, to the limits of congressional power, to why symbolic fights often crowd out material relief. Along the way, Riker offers a grounded perspective on what candidates hear on the ground — and what Washington routinely fails to absorb.

Highlights

• Why affordability has eclipsed ideology as the dominant voter concern
• How Congress’s incentive structure rewards spectacle over economic problem-solving
• The gap between constituent economic pain and legislative priorities
• What candidates can — and can’t — realistically promise on housing and cost of living
• Why debates over impeachment and agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement often displace kitchen-table economics
• Whether Congress is structurally capable of addressing affordability at scale
• The political risk of telling voters the truth about constraints and tradeoffs

About Our Guest

Brandon Riker is a California-based civic leader and congressional candidate focused on affordability, economic security, and institutional reform. His background spans private-sector work and community engagement, giving him firsthand exposure to the cost-of-living pressures facing working families across California. Riker entered politics motivated less by ideology than by what he describes as a growing disconnect between congressional priorities and the material realities constituents face, particularly around housing, healthcare, and wages. His campaign for Congress emphasizes practical governance, fiscal responsibility, and a willingness to confront political tradeoffs that are often avoided in Washington.

About The Co-Hosts

Greg Amrofell is the creator and host of Pacific Time, a podcast exploring the challenges and possibilities of West Coast leadership in a moment of national strain. A longtime technology and civic leader, Greg has lived across California and Washington and brings a systems-level lens to questions of democracy, governance, and regional power. Pacific Time launched on Inauguration Day 2025 as a space for asking bold “What if?” questions about the future of the West Coast—and the country.

Ashley Brown is a former senior marketing and strategy executive at Amazon, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft, with a deep background in comparative government, election systems, and democratic design. Though not a career politician, Ashley is a long-time student of civic systems and a frequent contributor to Pacific Time, known for bridging corporate leadership, political theory, and practical reform. He brings a sharp, historically grounded perspective to questions of power, legitimacy, and democratic resilience.

Related Pacific Time Episodes

• Ep 41 – Go Soft on Soft Secession? (with Christopher Armitage)
• Ep 40 – West Coast World Superpower (with Greg Amrofell & Ashley Brown)
• Ep 36 – What if We Grab Economic Power By The Middle (with David Goldstein)

Spicy Questions: 

• If Congress could only deliver one concrete affordability win in the next two years, what should it be — and what would you be willing to see deprioritized to make it happen?
• Do you agree with Brandon that the fastest way to protect democracy is putting money back in the pockets of taxpayers?

Join the conversation:
Pacific Time is making good trouble asking questions about West Coast autonomy on Substack; YouTube; Instagram, and LinkedIn. When you like, subscribe, and share it makes a big difference to getting the word out about Pacific Time. 

When you visit us online and comment on our spicy question or, better yet, ask constructive questions of your own, our hearts sing. A West Coast community that cares enough to converse and debate about its future so it can set its own course – well, that is what we’re after.

Listen: Pacific Time Podcast is on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcast, Podbean, and many other platforms. Follow, share, and leave a review.

Thank You To:

• Guest: Brandon Riker
• Producer: Tim Wohlberg
• Audio Inspiration: Bad Bunny (naturalmente)
• Sports Inspiration: Seattle Seahawks, Undistracted Super Bowl Champions
  
  

Christopher Armitage, founder of The Existentialist Republic, joins Pacific Time to argue that “soft secession” may be the most realistic way to defend democracy without tearing the country apart—and why the West Coast is uniquely positioned to lead.

Summary
As national institutions fracture and federal power grows more hostile to democratic norms, many Americans feel trapped between resignation and rupture. Christopher Armitage offers a third path. In this episode, he lays out a case for soft secession: a strategy of principled, research-backed state and local noncompliance designed to protect people, preserve democratic legitimacy, and rebalance power within the existing constitutional order.

Drawing on history, law enforcement experience, and comparative political models, Armitage explains why states don’t need permission to govern ethically—and why waiting for federal salvation may be the most dangerous choice of all. From public banking and healthcare compacts to moral law and historical precedents for resistance, this conversation explores what it would look like for the West Coast to act like the future is already here.

Highlights

• What “soft secession” actually means—and what it doesn’t
• Why strategic noncompliance can preserve the union rather than fracture it
• Historical precedents for state-level resistance, from the Fugitive Slave Act to post‑9/11 New York
• Krav Maga vs. Judo politics: when confrontation matters—and when building better systems matters more
• How public banking and non‑tax revenue could replace failing federal safety nets
• Why incrementalism fails in moments of authoritarian creep
• The role of moral law when institutional norms collapse
• What West Coast governors and mayors could do now
  
  

About Our Guest
Christopher Armitage is the founder of The Existentialist Republic, one of the fastest‑growing political Substacks in the U.S. He is a former law enforcement officer with graduate training in Homeland Security and is known for translating anxiety about democracy into research‑backed, actionable strategies. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Armitage focuses on federalism, state power, and nonviolent democratic resistance.

Related Resources

• The Existentialist Republic | Christopher Armitage | Substack
• Respect states' rights, new bipartisan group of legislative leaders tells feds • Stateline
• Federalism All the Way Down - Harvard Law Review
• Letter from Birmingham Jail, by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  
  

Related Pacific Time Episodes

• 01 Reclaiming Democracy: The Case for West Coast Independence (Solo)
• 23 Refresh the American Brand, West Coast First? With Michael Megalli
• 26 Do Californians Want Autonomy? With Coyote Marin

A Few Spicy Questions: What if soft secession isn’t radical—but overdue? What if refusing to comply with immoral federal directives is the most patriotic act left?

Join the conversation: Pacific Time is making good trouble asking questions about the future of the West Coast on Substack; YouTube; BlueSky, Instagram, and Facebook. Like, subscribe, share and, most importantly, share your comment on the spicy question above. 

Listen: Pacific Time Podcast is on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcast, Podbean, and many other platforms. Follow, share, and leave a review.

Thank You To:

• Guest: Christopher Armitage
• Producer: Tim Wohlberg
• Cheryl Pia for being a dear friend, Pacific Time’s biggest fan in Spain, and for steering me to The Existentialist Republic
• Postal Service for highlighting how the district sleeps and Death Cab for Cutie’s cool holiday tune

2025 cracked old illusions. 2026 raises a harder question.

As federal institutions crumble, can the West Coast finally unite its imagination with its power and political will?

In this anniversary episode, Pacific Time host Greg Amrofell is joined by longtime friend, frequent guest, and democracy thinker Ashley Brown to take stock of what 2025 revealed—and what 2026 demands.

Together, they reflect on a year that cracked long-held assumptions about the federal government, democratic self-correction, and incremental reform. From public banking and healthcare autonomy to democratic resilience, cultural soft power, and the limits of imagination, this episode asks a central question:

This is not a reaction episode. It’s a forward-looking reckoning with moral responsibility and historic obligation. What does national and global leadership looks like when the federal government falters?

In This Episode, We Explore

• What 2025 shattered about faith in federal governance
• Why imagination—not resources—may be the West Coast’s biggest constraint
• The West Coast as a donor region, and what autonomy could unlock
• Public banking, debt capacity, and financing big ideas
• Where West Coast leaders underestimate their collective clout—and where they overestimate it
• Why democracy may no longer be self-correcting without reform
• The stakes and opportunities heading into 2026

About the Co-Hosts

Greg Amrofell is the creator and host of Pacific Time, a podcast exploring the challenges and possibilities of West Coast leadership in a moment of national strain. A longtime technology and civic leader, Greg has lived across California and Washington and brings a systems-level lens to questions of democracy, governance, and regional power. Pacific Time launched on Inauguration Day 2025 as a space for asking bold “What if?” questions about the future of the West Coast—and the country.

Ashley Brown is a former senior marketing and strategy executive at Amazon, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft, with a deep background in comparative government, election systems, and democratic design. Though not a career politician, Ashley is a long-time student of civic systems and a frequent contributor to Pacific Time, known for bridging corporate leadership, political theory, and practical reform. He brings a sharp, historically grounded perspective to questions of power, legitimacy, and democratic resilience.

Related Pacific Time Episodes

• Ep 36 – What If Economic Orthodoxy Got a Rewrite? (with David Goldstein)
• Ep 17 – What If We Could Get Wildfire Under Control? (with Hilary Franz)
• Ep 14 – Could Ambitious Civic Projects Jolt Us Back to Trusting Government? (with Nolan Lienhart)
• Ep 39 – What If Women’s Sports Have Found Their Place on the West Coast? (with Jen Barnes)
• Ep 01 – Reclaiming Democracy: The Case for West Coast Independence (Solo)

A Few Spicy Questions: If the West Coast already has power, what’s actually stopping the region from using it much more assertively?

Join the conversation: Pacific Time is making good trouble asking questions about the future of the West Coast on Substack; YouTube; Instagram, and LinkedIn. When you like, subscribe, and share it makes a big difference to getting the word out about Pacific Time. 

When you visit us online and comment on our spicy question or, better yet, ask constructive questions of your own, our hearts sing. A West Coast community that cares enough to converse and debate about its future so it can set its own course – well, that is what we’re after.

Listen: Pacific Time Podcast is on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcast, Podbean, and many other platforms. Follow, share, and leave a review.

Thank You To:

• Many, Many Guests in 2025
• Producer: Tim Wohlberg
• Musical Inspiration: Digging into the archives here with The Lemonheads Radio
  
  

Seattle’s Rough & Tumble is a sports bar centered on women's sports and women sports fans that also happens to be a really fun place for any sports fan to watch a game. Founder Jen Barnes joins Pacific Time to talk about representation, cultural power, and why the West Coast might be the birthplace of a new era in sports fandom.

Summary
Women’s sports are exploding in talent, investment, and fan enthusiasm—but legacy sports culture and sports media haven’t kept up. When Jen Barnes couldn’t even find a bar willing to turn on a big match for her favorite women’s soccer team, she set about solving her own problem by building a space that centers women’s sports every day of the year. The result is a cultural phenomenon reshaping Seattle and inspiring national attention.

In this conversation, we explore how women’s sports intersect with civic life, identity, West Coast culture, and even political representation. Jen shares the challenges of scaling a purpose-driven business, the rapid growth of women’s sports investment, and what true parity might mean for athletes, fans, and society.

Highlights

• The “lightbulb moment” that sparked Rough & Tumble
• Why representation matters in sports, the way way it matters in business and politics
• The West Coast as the birthplace of women’s sports culture
• How a sports bar became a civic movement
• Women athletes as cultural leaders
• What broadcast parity would unlock across society
• The next 5–10 years of women’s sports growth
• How to design public spaces for inclusivity

About Our Guest
Jen Barnes is the founder and CEO of Rough & Tumble, a pioneering sports bar dedicated to women’s sports. Based in Seattle, Rough & Tumble has become a model for gender-equitable sports culture, community-building, and women-led entrepreneurship.

Related Resources:

• Rough & Tumble Sports Bars in Seattle (Ballard & Columbia City)
• Women’s sports viewership on the rise | Nielsen
• Women’s sports market growth: A $2.5 billion opportunity | McKinsey
• Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C. - Wikipedia
  
  

Related Pacific Time Episodes

• 33 We, Us, Ours? Protect LGBTQ Rights & Protect Everyone’s Rights? With Shannon Minter
• 27 Could Pickleball Save America? With David Johnson
• 15 What if Connection Was a Civic Responsibility? With Aaron Hurst 

A Few Spicy Questions: What if women’s sports expose how fragile our ideas of “merit,” “markets,” and “tradition” really are? What if sports fans who are women aren’t a minority at all?

Join the conversation: Pacific Time is making good trouble asking questions about the future of the West Coast on Substack; YouTube; BlueSky, Instagram, and Facebook. Like, subscribe, share and, most importantly, share your comment on the spicy question above. 

Listen: Pacific Time Podcast is on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcast, Podbean, and many other platforms. Follow, share, and leave a review.

Thank You To:

• Guest: Jen Barnes
• Producer: Tim Wohlberg
• The Women Athletes I’ve Most Admired: Laura Goff, Amelia Amrofell, Kerry Reding
• Maggie Rogers for providing an appropriately innovative female soundtrack to this week’s production process

The 2025 elections delivered shockwaves across the country—and even sharper aftershocks across the West Coast.

In our first Pacific Time compilation episode, Greg brings back three trusted voices back to make sense of what just happened and what might be coming next:

• Ashley Brown, comparative elections expert
• Mark Fiore, Pulitzer-winning political cartoonist
• Sandeep Kaushik, West Coast political strategist

Answering separately we unpack:

• Zohran Mamdani defeating Andrew Cuomo in NYC and what (if anything) it means for us on the West Coast
• Possibly pragmatic socialist Katie Wilson toppling the incumbent in Seattle's race for mayor
• Centrist Democrats sweeping governor’s races in New Jersey & Virginia
• California’s Prop 50 landslide—an aggressive response to Texas’s partisan redistricting

Each guest answers the same big questions: What surprised them? What signals matter for 2026? What are their dream and nightmare scenarios?

It’s a lively, alarming, and unexpectedly hopeful episode about a country on the brink—and why the West Coast may once again lead the way.

Highlights

• Why Prop 50 passed by a wide margin—and why it was an “up-down vote on Trump’s rule.”
• Ranked choice voting lessons from New York’s mayoral upset
• The widening divide within the Democratic Party—and why it may intensify, not resolve
• What Seattle’s knife-edge mayoral race says about America’s political stalemate
• The 2026 headlines our guests can imagine now—from “Blue Wave Sweeps America” to warnings of an autocratic future

About Our Guests
All returning friends of the pod...

Ashley Brown — Comparative Elections Expert

A longtime student of electoral systems around the world, Ashley specializes in how voting structures influence democratic legitimacy, turnout, and trust. He brings deep, global perspective on gerrymandering, ranked choice voting, proportionality, and election design.

Mark Fiore — Pulitzer-Winning Political Cartoonist
One of the most influential and groundbreaking political cartoonists working today, Mark’s satirical animations and illustrations have shaped how millions make sense of American politics, extremism, and hypocrisy.

Sandeep Kaushik — Political Strategist & Commentator
A Seattle-based political consultant and co-host of Blue City Blues and Seattle Nice, Sandeep is one of the West Coast’s sharpest interpreters of local and national political dynamics.

Related Episodes

• 25 Can Better Ballots Beat Bad Maps? With Ashley Brown
• 12 What If the Resistance Was Funny? With Mark Fiore
• 10 What if Blue Cities Got It Together? With Sandeep Kaushik
  
  

Resources

• Donald Trump’s Plan to Subvert the Midterms Is Already Under Way - The Atlantic
• Mayor-Elect Katie Wilson Says Seattle Nice is “Special” - Seattle Nice Podcast (Spotify)
• Mark Fiore’s Political Cartoons - Substack
• 5 California election takeaways after voters pass Proposition 50 - CalMatters

A Spicy Question For You

What are your dream and nightmare scenarios for where the country goes in 2026? (Provocative, far-out, thoughtful answers might just make it on the next episode)

Answer Here and Join the Conversation

YouTube; Substack; or Instagram. Like, subscribe, share and, most importantly, share your comment on the spicy question above. 

Pacific Time Podcast is on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcast, Podbean, and many other platforms. Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Thank You:

• Guests: Sandeep Kaushik, Mark Fiore, Ashley Brown
• Producer: Tim Wohlberg
• Musical Inspiration: Caamp, Mumford & Sons, Old Crow Medicine Show (Can you tell I'm on a bluegrass kick?)
• Moral Support: My family who gathered from far & wide over Thanksgiving and pulled off a great feast

What if America’s political dysfunction isn’t a moral failure — but a design failure?

In this episode, Greg talks with Robbie Bach, former President of Xbox and now a leading civic reform advocate, about how the United States might update its political operating system. Robbie argues that polarization isn’t an accident — it’s an output of incentives. And if incentives can be redesigned, the system can be reinvented.

This is a conversation about innovation, democracy, and why the West Coast might be the country’s best testbed for political renewal.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why the two-party system is fragile, not inevitable 
• What tech’s prototyping mindset could bring to civic life 
• Why D.C. is structurally incapable of reforming itself
• Why Tech CEOs are smart to be at The White House, and how they’re missing opportunities to advocate for better policy
• The civic lessons Robbie learned after Xbox
• How creating stories about tech, politics, and national intrigue raise questions about the real world

Guest Bio

Robbie Bach led the creation of Xbox and served as President of Microsoft’s Entertainment & Devices Division. Since retiring, he has become a civic designer, author, speaker, and advocate for political reform, systems thinking, and community leadership.

Related Resources

• Letters to the Democrats and Republicans - LinkedIn, Robbie Bach 
• Bipartisan Policy Center
• The Blockchain Syndicate: A Contemporary Thriller, Robbie Bach

Related Episodes

• Could We Grab Economic Power By the Middle? With David Goldstein
• Refresh the American Brand, West Coast First? With Michael Megalli
• What if National Service Jump Started the West Coast Workforce? With Nicole Trimble
• What if Silicon Valley and Democracy Got Back Together? With Margaret O'Mara

A Spicy Question: What advice could gamers offer on how to build a more just and equitable world?

Join the conversation: Pacific Time is making good trouble asking questions about the future of the West Coast on Substack; YouTube; BlueSky, Instagram, and Facebook. Like, subscribe, share and, most importantly, share your comment on the spicy question above. 

Listen: Pacific Time Podcast is on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcast, Podbean, and many other platforms. Follow, share, and leave a review.

Thank You To:

• Guest: Robbie Bach
• Producer: Tim Wohlberg
• Coach: Jeremy N. Smith
• Family & Friends: For cheering on the podcast and big milestones ahead (Thanksgiving! Madrid!)
• Trampled by Turtles, Alison Brown & Steve Martin for providing my soundtrack to this week’s production process