Overton Window

The Overton window is a political theory in which the popular policies that one can enact while they are influenced by what the masses see as popular.  These policies are often what political campaigns can often revolve around.  Basically how an Overton window works is when a policy is viewed as positive in the eyes of the public, policies are passed by the way the viewpoint the masses see about the issue.  This often leads to political campaigns based around these very topics concerning the Overton window.  Those who are inside the Overton window will often beat those outside the Overton window.  The best way to explain the Overton window is through examples of what it looks like.

An example of the Overton window

The first example that can best explain the Overton window is prohibition.  When prohibition first was a thing alcohol was viewed as something that ruined that could and was ruining America.  Wayne Wheeler turned everyone against alcohol.  He told the poverty stricken that alcohol is the reason that they are in poverty.  He told the rich that they would lose all their money.  This campaign worked and congress was replaced into pro-prohibition.  It didn’t help that Germany, who was big on their beer, started a war.  This skewed the Overton window into a very pro-prohibition.

After the 18^th amendment was put into place, crime was rampant among all major cities.  Bootlegging was one of biggest crimes of that era. It got so bad that police completely ignored many of the bootlegging.  Al Capone, one of the most notorious bootleggers, had such a big crime ring, he couldn’t be brought down through normal means.  During this, protests to repeal the 18^th amendment were in full swing.  However, President Herbert Hoover thought Prohibition was a good thing during the protests.  This led to this being one of the biggest reasons President Franklen D. Roosevelt won the elections to issue the 21^st amendment.  The election shows the skewing in the opposite way of the Overton window.

Another example, which is more modern day, is same-sex marriage in the United States, specifically the laws in California.  During this time, LGBTQ+ advocation was not as prominent as it is today. A law was made to ban same-sex marriage.  This was mainly from religious organizations who wanted to ban the whole thing. This is what became known as California’s Proposition 8.  At this time, there was a very uncontroversial thing.  This means that the Overton window for this was very skewed for this exact purpose.

After this law was in place, there was a surge of Pro-LGBTQ+ protests.  These protests helped skew the Overton window in the favor of LGBTQ+.  It was so prominent that it made its way into the Supreme Court.  2 years after Proposition 8 was issued, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage was legal in Hollingsworth v. Perry.  This showed where the Overton window was at this time, deeply in favor of the LGBTQ+ community.  This idea of the Overton window has been in history and something that is currently in use.