Overton Window (Blog #8)

Theories are a system of ideas that we all put together to support true facts and evidence and as our society evolves each and every day so does the number of theories brought to the public eye. One theory that our society has recognized more and more each year is the theory of the Overton Window, which was inspired by American policy analyst Joseph Overton in the 1990's.

A simple definition of the Overton Window is that there are a range of politically acceptable and safe policies that can be used in politics. These policies are influenced by society and society's ideas change around us over time. As the Overton Window is the window of acceptable ideas, some policies lie outside this window which can be seen as radical to the public. This window of ideas can expand from more freedom and less freedom as our society and social standards evolve, and politicians tend to know where this window lies when trying to gain the majority vote.

When politics occur, their goal is to stay inside of this window of acceptable ideas and opinions. If it so happens that their ideas fall outside of this window or the public finds reasons for the idea to fall outside of the window can risk defeat when it comes to the majority vote on who to pick.

Examples of how the Overton Window has shifted over time:

• Until 1920 when the 19th Amendment had been added women were not allowed to vote in elections and had little to no rights. Now in our day in age, it is common sense for everyone that women now have these rights.
• Same-sex marriage was not legalized until June 26th, 2015 by the Supreme Court. Although many people still don't necessarily agree with this, it is now a standard in society which shows how this window of the view of same-sex marriage has shifted from unthinkable and unacceptable to popular policy over time. 
• Before 1865, slavery was something that was common and justified as a society. After the 13th Amendment had passed the Overton Window of viewing slavery shifted from popular and acceptable to unthinkable. 

When I began to read more about what the Overton Window was I began to think of the 2020 election, which was Joe Biden vs. Donald J Trump. As we know 2020 was a very interesting year for there to be an election since this was the year the COVID-19 pandemic had progressed significantly. Voting for the 46th United States president was in November of 2020, and at this point, we were not seeing any big difference in how we were dealing with this pandemic. So as someone who wanted to gain a majority vote at the time, Joe Biden stated "When I am elected your president, I'm going to act, and I'm going to act on day one. Folks, we are going to act to get this COVID-19 under control...I'm never going to raise the white flag and surrender. We are going to beat this virus. We are going to get it under control, I promise you." Biden knew that saying this at a time when everyone was fed up and ready to go back to reality would be beneficial to him getting the majority vote, so he continued to promise that the pandemic would begin to settle down. 

Although Biden was then elected after this statement, he didn't quite live up to this expectation that he had set for everyone who had voted for him. So everyone just assumed that since Biden was running for a high-powered position in our country, he would be able to figure it out. So, the Overton Window was based on what he had said in this situation since no factual evidence or science could back up his claim and he knew that he was saying something that the public wanted to hear. 

Once he was in office he did begin to try and put a stop to the pandemic, but he just told everyone to continue wearing masks while we waited for a vaccine that would help. After the vaccine was made he recommended people get it if eligible, but to this day the vaccine is not proven to stop you from ingesting the virus. I remember having to wear a mask in school until March of 2022, and some places around me required us to have a vaccine to even enter the premises. To this day there is still no cure for the virus, and even though we do not follow the rules as we did in 2020, the same amount of people still test positive for this virus if not even more than they did back when the pandemic was at its peak. Although it is a tricky situation since there was no data on this virus, Biden still made a promise to the public and still has not fulfilled it. The claims that Biden had made in his time before and during his time in office show how he used the Overton Window to his advantage to gain this majority vote back in 2020. Now that COVID-19 is not a huge deal like it was back then, anything regarding having to follow protocols about this virus shifted more to unthinkable rather than popular and acceptable. The public and lawmakers believe that the window has sifted was too far right when comparing what he expressed he would complete for the country.

As we continue to evolve as a society the Overton Window should be something that more people should have a better understanding of when they pay attention to. Although I gave a broader example of something related to the Overton Window, many other political aspects that are talked about could be influenced by it, and when looking into more serious governmental aspects we want to be sure we make the best decisions for our public and continue to understand the true meaning of this theory.