How an Obscure Conservative Theory Became the Trump Era’s Go-to Nerd Phrase - POLITICO Magazine: “Honestly, we needed a way to explain to regular donors why they should support a think tank in the first place if they care about ideas,” Lehman told me. “The Overton window began literally as a way to solve a little bit of a fundraising and communications challenge. And Joe Overton, my colleague, was busy trying to work this into a brochure, but he died before that was complete.” He went on to say, “It fell to us who worked with him to put it together.”
For the first few years of its existence, the concept was mostly the domain of conservative wonks, a typical example being Ross Douthat’s invoking it in a 2007 argument with leftist historian Rick Perlstein. Through the Bush era its use in the national press was scant, but in the right-wing ferment of Obama’s first term a particularly influential pseudo-libertarian became so infatuated with the concept that he named an entire novel after it.
The moonlighting pulp writer and auteur of the chalkboard Glenn Beck wrote a 2010 potboiler, conveniently titled The Overton Window. It follows a nefarious PR executive who pushes the window to the point where Americans are willing to accept a hostile takeover and shredding of the Constitution. This lead-them-by-the-nose interpretation of the theory may not have exactly matched its authors’ intent, but it popularized the phrase to the point where over the next several years it cropped up with increasing frequency. Activists on the left embraced the idea in pushing Democrats toward a more open immigration policy, as did the restrictionists on the right as represented by then-Senator Jeff Sessions.
For the first few years of its existence, the concept was mostly the domain of conservative wonks, a typical example being Ross Douthat’s invoking it in a 2007 argument with leftist historian Rick Perlstein. Through the Bush era its use in the national press was scant, but in the right-wing ferment of Obama’s first term a particularly influential pseudo-libertarian became so infatuated with the concept that he named an entire novel after it.
The moonlighting pulp writer and auteur of the chalkboard Glenn Beck wrote a 2010 potboiler, conveniently titled The Overton Window. It follows a nefarious PR executive who pushes the window to the point where Americans are willing to accept a hostile takeover and shredding of the Constitution. This lead-them-by-the-nose interpretation of the theory may not have exactly matched its authors’ intent, but it popularized the phrase to the point where over the next several years it cropped up with increasing frequency. Activists on the left embraced the idea in pushing Democrats toward a more open immigration policy, as did the restrictionists on the right as represented by then-Senator Jeff Sessions.