The Overton Window is the title of Glenn Beck’s new book, a conspiracy theory layer cake of fictionalized Leftist plots to take over the US government and institute socialist oppression. The book is billed by the publisher as a "thriller," but it seems more an attempt by Beck to paint himself as the twenty-first century Ayn Rand, without the benefit of her rhetorical skills or the ability to move a plot. But the title, itself, is not Beck’s. The Overton Window - the method by which the evil Lefties in the novel are attempting to take over the country – is a real political theory and one which has been used to great effectiveness in the United States not by the Left, but by the Right, including Glenn Beck himself.
This essay is not a review of The Overton Window, the novel. If you wish to see what the book is about, here is a link to an excellent review from the Progressive perspective by Simon Maloy at Huffington Post:
Beck Review
I want to concern myself here with an exploration of the political theory known as the Overton Window. It was codified by the late Joseph P. Overton, who for much of his career served as vice president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a free market-oriented think tank currently presided over by Joseph G. Lehman.
Overton’s essential thesis states that at any given moment within the public discourse there is a range or "window" of ideas and proposals that are considered acceptable to the public at large. When this "window" expands, ideas previously considered too radical for potential policy implementation become more acceptable. The range of ideas as they relate to the Overton Window can be arranged as follows:
-Unthinkable
-Radical
-Acceptable
-Sensible
-Popular
-Policy
The way ideas are shifted within the Window is via discussion and discourse. The more something is proposed, talked about, discussed, debated, and presented the more likely it is to be shifted from one end of the spectrum to the other. It is a sublime little theory which sheds great light on how the public policy debate works – especially in the United States, where wall-to-wall media is so much a part of our culture.
Quick Case Study – Gays in the Military
We can see the shift in policy acceptability taking place all around us, but we often don’t take the time to sit down and actually think about what’s going on. Prior to 1993 gays and lesbians serving in the United States Armed Forces did so illegally. If they were caught living their lifestyle they were summarily drummed out of the service and many even faced additional chargers. This followed a long tradition, dating to George Washington’s Continental Army, of criminalizing "sodomy" within the ranks.
However, by 1993 serious discussion was taking place, especially in Leftist political circles, of ending this criminalization policy and allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly. At that time a shift in the Overton Window for this issue occurred, from "Unthinkable" to "Radical." In 1993 44% of Americans were in favor of allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly. President Bill Clinton found a middle ground and instituted the "Don’t Ask Don’t Tell" policy that we have today.
Flash forward to 2010, following nearly two decades of constant discussion, debate, and infusion of LGBT issues into the popular media – from Ellen coming out to Dick Cheney’s daughter to the Madonna-Britney kiss – and the public’s attitudes have radically changed. Poll after poll shows overwhelming support for a total repeal of DADT, allowing our military’s men and women to serve openly. The idea has shifted within the Overton Window through the stages of "Acceptable" and "Sensible" to "Popular." By the end of the year we will be at "Policy."
The Overton Window and the Right
Though I have used what was once considered to be a radical idea of the Left as my case study, the sad irony is that the American Rightwing contains by far the more astute students of manipulating public discourse to affect political attitudes. We can all recall the coalescence of the Tea Party movement in the early months of the Obama presidency. What began as a loose coalition of radical activists was quickly co-opted by the establishment Right in the form of organizations like Dick Armey’s Freedom Works. Big Media talking heads, especially the aforementioned Glenn Beck, began hitching their celebrity wagons to the "movement," granting it further legitimacy.
Ideas espoused by the Tea Partiers – for instance, that Obama is a socialist – quickly shifted through the Overton Window within the American Right, as the echo chamber shouted out constant accusations. In January of this year when Daily Kos and Research 2000 performed their poll of Republican beliefs, it was found that 63% of the GOP believed Obama to be a socialist – an idea now considered among Republican ranks to be "Acceptable."
Talk. Shouting. Noise. These are the weapons the Right in the USA can point at any issue. By yelling constantly they can monopolize the media meme. When so much noise erupts over any given issue, the media cannot help but cover it. When ideas are espoused at such a fevered pitch, they can’t be ignored. And, eventually, if these ideas are not countered directly and forcefully, they will shift within the popular discourse from the fringe toward greater levels of acceptability. The Rightwing, through their media influence, think tanks, and Astroturf groups, are expert at manipulating fringe ideas. And the Left, when we fail to counter these ideas and dismiss them play directly into the Right’s strategy. This is exactly how the "Swift Boating" of John Kerry took place. His campaign initially ignored the ridiculous accusations that somehow he had not served honorably in Viet Nam, and in so doing he actually gave those accusations credibility.
Glenn Beck – the author of the fictional Overton Window – is a prime example of how the amplification of fringe ideas in Rightwing American politics is influencing the political debate as a whole. His distortions of American history, his conspiracy theories, and his notions about what constitutes fascism, Nazism, Communism, and socialism are slowly trickling into the mainstream, leaving the public discourse as confused over these issues as Beck himself. Perhaps, in a way, The Overton Window isn’t a polemic against the Left, but a confession of Beck’s own crimes against our national sanity.
The Moral of the Story
Understanding how the Overton Window works is a useful way to get a handle on how public debate is manipulated in the US. We on the Left tamp down the fringe within our various movements out of fear that Progressives as a whole will be painted as "loonies." We have no radical standard bearers left – gone are Debs, Alinsky, Zinn, and their ilk. We Progressives, in attempting to avoid being defined by our own radicals, have actually moved ourselves further to the right than many of us would care to go. Case in point: Barack Obama is not a socialist and, in fact, he doesn’t even appear to be very much of a liberal.
If we allow the Becks of the world to define Obama’s brand of politics as "socialism," then where on the spectrum will truly Progressive politics fall? We must seek to manage our own advocacy positions with an eye to the Overton Window and work to shift the "middle" of American politics back towards the Left.