Revolution Moves Into The Overton Window

The Overton Window:

The Overton Window, in political theory, describes a “window” in the range of public reactions to ideas in public discourse, in a spectrum of all possible options on a particular issue. It is named after its originator, Joseph P. Overton, former vice president of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

At any given moment, the “window” includes a range of policies considered to be politically acceptable in the current climate of public opinion, which a politician can recommend without being considered too “extreme” or outside the mainstream to gain or keep public office. Overton arranged the spectrum on a vertical axis of “more free” and “less free” in regard to government intervention. When the window moves or expands, ideas can accordingly become more or less politically acceptable. The degrees of acceptance of public ideas can be described roughly as:

· Unthinkable

· Radical

· Acceptable

· Sensible

· Popular

· Policy

The Overton Window is a means of visualizing which ideas define that range of acceptance by where they fall in it. Proponents of policies outside the window seek to persuade or educate the public so that the window either “moves” or expands to encompass them. Opponents of current policies, or similar ones currently within the window, likewise seek to convince people that these should be considered unacceptable.

Other formulations of the process created after Overton’s death add the concept of moving the window, such as deliberately promoting ideas even less acceptable than the previous “outer fringe” ideas, with the intention of making the current fringe ideas acceptable by comparison.

I look at the current crop of conservative candidates from which we have to choose and I can’t help but think, is this the best we can do? Really?? The most conservative of the lot that also believes in our military and protecting the US is Rick Santorum. He’s still my candidate and I pray fervently that he will prevail and win the nomination. But the odds are against him. The two front runners are both Progressives and it just makes my stomach ache to think of pulling the lever for one of them, all in the name of saving what is left of America from full-blown Marxism. It’s depressing.

What we would have considered taboo and a fatal nominee flaw a few years ago, is suddenly okay evidently. Sex in the White House? Not a problem… Cheated on your wife and divorced? Not a problem… Buddy around with known radicals and Marxists? Definitely not a problem… And the Overton Window slides inexorably to the left. What has happened to us? We were once the greatest nation on the planet. We had a robust economy, a strong military, a Christian ethic, strong morals, a rich history and leaders of whom we were proud. Now? Well, we have an economy that is close to a Weimar moment. Our leaders have gutted our military. Christianity is being systematically destroyed and vilified. Morals seemed to have been replaced by an entitlement mentality. Our history is being rewritten and erased. Our leaders are corrupt, gutless, spineless, knee scrapers, who only care about themselves and their personal pocketbooks.

And now comes the 2012 election circus and you can already hear the politicians crying that ‘he won’t stop touching me!‘ In a political tantrum, exhibiting brain damage, that is an unfunny parody of a Bill Cosby skit, replete with numerous and vociferous claims of ‘I don’t know!‘

The stupid and the lame give way to the ridiculous and extreme during this dance of the Progressives. And Americans sit there confused, apathetic and depressed while the elites do a jig on the Constitution and rob us blind during intermission between emergencies and elections. As our elected mob haggles over how best to control us, while enslaving us and getting us to behave, the anger among the majority of Americans (who by the way are conservative) is building and building…

Words that you didn’t hear a decade ago are being bandied about, such as treason and revolution. The whispers of unrest are getting stronger and the American boiling pot is about to explode. We all feel it if we are honest with ourselves. Many believe we won’t even make it to the next election, especially since there is an excellent chance the Marxist in Chief won’t be reelected. Any emergency will do and the Progressives have a whole list of possibilities to choose from. None of them good for you or me.

All the while, the establishment RINOs keep telling us that no matter what crappy candidate they choose, we have to vote for them or the world will end. The RINOs are Progressives on the right and gee, they just don’t sound that much different than the left. And I’ve just about had enough of that crap sandwich. But the third party guys aren’t much better and would almost certainly get Obama reelected. A death sentence for the Republic – no doubt about it. But as I said before, I may not like the choices, but I’ll vote for an old shoe before I vote to get Obama reelected. Whatever it takes.

It is in times such as these that revolutions are born. Don’t be fooled by the Occupy movement. They are meant to create strife and chaos to help the current administration. Most of what the left says, they mean the exact opposite.

But as a friend said tonight, you can only push Conservative America so far before they’ve had enough. And baby, we are just about there. America, she’s a-cookin’ and if things don’t change – and soon – there will be a hot time across the land and this is one party we could really do without.

If there is to be a conservative revolution in this country, we need a leader who not only knows how to balance a budget and cut spending, but one who has a spine and is willing to stand toe to toe against our enemies – foreign and domestic. Someone who is not politically correct. Someone who is moral and will do the right thing no matter the cost. America’s waiting – I hope he shows up soon.

From Sultan Knish:

Revolutions begin with an open contempt for and anger at the existing order. The left knows that. It is why it fears talk radio and populism more than it fears the latest set of dapper gatekeepers we send to the Senate. The contempt and anger are here, the more they go public, the more the power of the left is shaken. And the next step is to expand the cultural war to a specific disrespect and hostility for the values and sacred cows of the left. Then to challenge their institutions and regulations. And then real political change can begin with candidates who are revolutionaries because they believe it, or because they are operating under a new paradigm that is outside the left’s manufactured consensus.

Most of the elements are already in place. The consensus establishment is making its last stand, but it is fading. It is now a race between shaping public anger into a vehicle for political change and the speed at which the left is transforming and fragmenting the country to prevent a political revolution of the right from ever coming about. May we be swift for if the left wins the race then it is the end of America.

One way or the other, from the left or the right, we are moving towards revolution. The concept of revolution is now clearly inside the Overton Window. We’ve already gone down the crazy road and now we are heading for the cliffs. May Conservative America fight with all their might to win this struggle for the heart and soul of the Republic.

By: Terresa Monroe-Hamilton  -  The NoisyRoom

The Overton Window by Glenn Beck

Glenn Beck’s Overton Window is Today’s Chilling Story

Glenn Beck’s Overton Window is Today’s Chilling Story

April 5th, 2011

The following was written by Gina Miller. Her opinions don’t necessarily reflect those of ScottFactor.com, but because they’re here, they probably do.

The “elites” of the world view me as a “useless eater.”  I understand this and the evil thinking behind it.  I’m just a no-name blogger who is not only of no use to the elites, but in my writings, I am a small voice of opposition to their goals of a one world order, because I write about the virtues of true liberty with personal responsibility, the fragile preciousness of American sovereignty and the overarching truth of God’s Word.  That makes me an enemy of the state of the elites.

These thoughts are always in my mind, but recently they have been larger in my thinking after my trip back home to Texas.  My dear 82-year-old grandmother died on Tuesday, March 22, after suffering for a while with severe breathing problems.  Despite my previous vow to never fly again, especially in light of the overbearing and invasive Transportation and Safety Administration’s (TSA) excessive policies, I found it necessary to fly home for her funeral.

I was pleasantly surprised at the smooth trip.  The TSA workers were polite, and even though my city’s airport has one of those nude body scanners, it was not in use, so I did not have to choose between having my body groped and having a pornographic image made of myself.  The only thing I dealt with besides walking through the metal detector was the stupid requirement to remove my shoes, for which I had the Muslim moron Richard Reid, aka “the Shoe Bomber,” to thank.

On the return trip, I had a three-hour layover at Dallas-Fort Worth.  I had finished reading the novel I had brought along for time-killing, so I browsed a book store in the airport.  And, there they were: paperback copies of Glenn Beck’s The Overton Window. So, I thought, “I’ll bite,” and I bought a copy.

The first thing I noticed about the book was the strange depiction of the Statue of Liberty on the cover.  I immediately saw that although it looks like the Statue of Liberty, it is not an exact likeness.  This is explained in the book.  It turns out the figure is an imaginary cross between the Statue of Liberty and the Colossus of Rhodes.

Although the story is fiction, there are many true events woven in throughout the book.  After a disturbing prologue, the story opens in New York with the protagonist, a young man named Noah Gardner, who is the son of a powerful public relations magnate, Arthur Gardner.  The character of Noah’s father is loosely modeled after Edward Bernays, who was a nephew of Dr. Sigmund Freud and an American pioneer in public relations and propaganda.

Noah meets and is smitten with Molly Ross, whom we recognize as a type of Tea Partier, although she is not called a Tea Partier.  She belongs to a group called Founders’ Keepers, and she recognizes that “the America as we know it is about to be lost forever.”

The story goes from there as Noah is forced to face the hard truth of a globalist takeover of our country in the aftermath of an unheard-of attack on the United States.

I was impressed with Glenn Beck’s skill as a storyteller.  His writing style is fresh and distilled, not given to excessive descriptions or flowery words to say what he wants to say.  The story is fast-paced and intense, and it is apparent that Glenn and his team did a boatload of research in crafting the story.

The Overton Window concept is explained in the book and on the book’s back cover,

“There is a powerful technique called the Overton Window that can shape our lives, our laws, and our future.  It manipulates public perception so that ideas once seen as radical become acceptable over time.  Move the Window and you change the debate.  Change the debate and you change the country.”

I have Glenn to thank for a song being stuck in my head right now.  One of the book’s characters, a member of the Founders’ Keepers group, is a man named Danny Bailey.  As soon as I read his name in the book, Elton John’s song, “The Ballad of Danny Bailey (1909—1934)” from his Goodbye Yellow Brick Road album popped into my head and has been playing off and on ever since.  I don’t know if Glenn considered the ill-fated character in the song when naming his book’s character, but it could be that he did.

Glenn’s book highlights the long-standing plan by the globalists to assimilate America into one world governance.  It’s plain that we’re just a moment away from it, even at the door.  Many of us are waiting and watching for “the event” that plunges us into a total police state where citizen patriots are rounded up in special detainment centers—for our own good and the good of the country, of course.

The events in The Overton Window are entirely plausible.  You cannot read this book and think it can’t happen here.  Our  nation is teetering on the brink of financial collapse.  We cannot imagine a situation that makes the Great Depression look like a walk in the park, but we are being set up for just such a time.

What about a catastrophic terrorist attack?  Whether an attack is done by Islamists or shadowy globalists, the result would be the same, and our already vanishing liberties could be suddenly and completely swept away in a tide of martial law.  Our government and military have done extensive planning for just such a scenario, and Glenn includes citations in the back of his book of a few example stories.  In fact, he includes forty pages of footnote-type citations in the afterward of the book.

The elites have been hard at work for at least a hundred years in our country, determined to undermine our free republic and subvert the Constitution.  They want the United States to be like the rest of the world, where freedom exists only in theory, if at all.  While the elites have worked toward their goals, most Americans have slept and allowed the government to mutate from servant of the people to master of the people.  Glenn points this out in his book.  Glenn also illustrates in the book the fact that I mentioned in the first sentence of this column about being viewed by the elites as a “useless eater.”

As our nation has collectively turned its back on God, killed millions of our babies in the womb, and embraced all manner of sinful behavior, it should come as no surprise that we are getting the government we deserve.  In reading The Overton Window, you get a powerful sense of powerlessness in the face of global evilists—yes, there’s a nice new term for us—but it’s not written as an entirely hopeless situation.

Although the evilists in Glenn’s book do not fully succeed in implementing their age-old plans, you can see they’re on the brink of doing so.  Can we stop them?  That is the question, and I know the ultimate answer in this world is no, because the Bible tells me so.  But, that still does not mean we are without hope.  Those of us who cling to God through Jesus Christ have all the hope in the world, and we know how this story ends.  It ends very badly for the enemies of God and the kings of the world.

Glenn’s book ends on a clear “sequel forthcoming” note.  The future Overton Window book or books have many storyline possibilities, and it will be scary to read them.  Some of us occasionally read novels as a distraction from our real-world lives and problems.  The Overton Window is not a distraction from the real world, but a focus on the world as it is.  So, if you’re looking for an escape from the world, this book is not for you, but if you don’t mind looking reality in the face and staring into the eyes of the truth behind the lies of the world, I recommend a dose of The Overton Window.

Originally from Texas, Gina is a graduate of William Carey College in Gulfport, MS, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts. Gina currently presents an audio blog on News Radio 104.9 FM in Biloxi, MS. Her blogs can be heard twice weekly on the Kipp Gregory morning show.

If you have not read The Overton Window… it is a must read, for both the fiction and non-fiction fan!!