Overton Window vs. Ratchet

The New Right, whatever they want to call themselves, is obsessed with a few key ideas. One of the most prominent of those ideas is the Overton Window.

The Overton Window is the idea that at any time there exists a range of acceptable policy options and unacceptable policy options. According to the New Right, the Overton Window almost always shifts left. In other words, progressive policies slowly become more acceptable, and conservative policies slowly become more extreme.

An extreme version of this view posits the existence of a ratchet effect. In other words, once the Overton Window shifts left, you cannot shift it right.

Naturally, this differs from the view expressed in the United 93 Election. That viewpoint holds that it is possible to shift the Overton Window right, and that is what the Administration is trying to do.

On the front page of the USA Today, the headline reads: Koch pumps up Trump agenda. Few things can be more reassuring to the administration than the prospect of the Koch brothers joining the cause. Specifically, the brothers are supporting overarching tax reform.

Nevertheless, the prospect of such tax reform and deficit reduction and increased military spending smacks of magical thinking. Simply put, it isn't possible, not even for Trump.