July/August 2020
The ‘Overton window’ is a term describing the ideas that define the spectrum of acceptable government policies. If politicians are to succeed, their policies must remain within this range of public acceptance. In order for politicians to expand their policy reach, they must either develop new platforms within the existing Overton or the public must call for new policies with a voice loud enough for politicians to hear.
In his writings Benjamin Creme maintained that one day humanity would be brought face to face with a profound wilderness experience of significant depth and impact. “The wilderness experience, particularly for the West, is the acceptance of a simpler way of life, so that all people everywhere can live,” Creme said.
Arising out of this experience, the world’s governments would be put to the test to prioritize and meet the true needs of their people. While few expected a pandemic as the initiating cause of this wilderness experience, the economic collapse springing from the pandemic, and the response of the world’s governments, which has followed the crisis to date, is in line with Creme’s writings and lectures.
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The Covid-19 pandemic has provided a sharp and dramatic adjustment to the Overton window. In less than two months the circumstances that influence public discourse have been radically altered. This is a unique moment in history and the window can open wide at the present time if people demand substantive change and are willing to hold politicians to account. If the public leads, politicians will propose policies thought to be unobtainable only a few months ago.
Powerful US politicians are articulating policies that until recently had been considered too extreme and radical, with no chance of implementation. But suddenly these policies are not only becoming acceptable within the public mind but are increasingly seen as necessary. The Covid-19 virus has affected the world deeply, and as a result many now recognize the need to adjust our political, economic and social systems. No country exemplifies this need as does the US, which collapsed under pandemic mismanagement, gutted by free-market ideology and the push for profit maximization at all costs. Now those costs are hitting home.
The Overton window has moved, and the voice of the people has never been as potentially influential as it could be now in shaping the policies that can take us out of economic depression. It is up to the public to describe that future, insist on it, vote for it, and allow us to leave behind a system that is little more than economic Darwinism, lacking as it does, thoughtfulness, vision, compassion and conscience.
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Author’s note:
The Overton window applies equally to the worldwide anti-racism demonstrations occurring in sympathy with the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests. In an astonishingly short time frame the Overton window is being forced open under intense public pressure on local, state and national political bodies, driving them to enact legislation to rein in police forces as they have become increasingly aggressive and militarized.
