Mackinac Center for Public Policy

The Overton Window

Have you noticed that politicians struggle to enact the things they run on? They find themselves bound by what is popular, or at least their sense of it. The narrow range of policies that they can enact is called the Overton Window. The Overton Window podcast looks at issues around the country and the people changing what is politically possible.

Author

Mackinac Center for Public Policy

Category

Government

Podcast website

www.mackinac.org

Latest episode

Jul 10, 2026

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Episodes

‘I was so distraught; I felt like I had to do something’ 19.07.2024

Basanta Adhikari on moving the Overton Window in Nepal

‘You have to have a critical mass of people who care about it’ 05.07.2024

Mike Reitz on political strategy and public policy

‘If the Soviets hate this Milton Friedman guy then he must be good’ 21.06.2024

Matt Mitchell on switching economic systems from socialism to capitalism

‘In the past three years, we’ve made more advancements on school choice than in the preceding three decades’ 07.06.2024

Corey DeAngelis on The Parent Revolution

‘If we got to Mach 3, 4, 5…then trillions of dollars could get unlocked’ 24.05.2024

Eli Dourado on the hard problems facing hard technology

‘There’s so much we can learn from polls’ 10.05.2024

Erin Norman on measuring progress and setting strategy through polling

‘There’s a wide-open Overton Window, and a lot of people have ideas’ 26.04.2024

Jason Hayes on how federal and state forests are managed

‘If you can make them laugh, they’ll remember things’ 12.04.2024

Shoshana Weissmann on policy advocacy on social media

‘The only way you’re going to get involved is by being involved’ 29.03.2024

Luke Derheim on volunteering on political campaigns

‘Basically it was a free market wish list’ 15.03.2024

Kendall Cotton on major policy wins in Montana

‘It’s a policy shift but also a cultural shift’ 01.03.2024

M. Nolan Gray on the battles for less restrictive housing regulation

‘This is the unholy intersection of Hollywood and politics’ 09.02.2024

Jacob Whiton and Greg LeRoy on state film subsidies

‘The dealers are protecting themselves, not protecting consumers’ 26.01.2024

Dan Crane on the fight for direct sales of vehicles

‘There’s no good outcome here’ 12.01.2024

Brian Riedl on what it will take to avoid catastrophic federal debt

‘I just think that’s a success, right?’ 15.12.2023

Sarah Curry on letting voters know what debts they’re being asked to approve

‘They can embrace radical policies with no repercussions’ 01.12.2023

Paul Gessing on the fight to keep gasoline-powered vehicle sales legal in New Mexico

‘Our civilization, our democracy, our society depend on that’ 17.11.2023

Alexandra Hudson on the Soul of Civility

‘That is what makes health care so different from every other sector of the economy’ 03.11.2023

Brian Blase on putting the customer back in the health care system

‘The moral argument is what wins’ 20.10.2023

Jimmy Walker on raising funds by making a better case for free-market ideas

‘We have to protect the parents who trust their kids with some independence’ 06.10.2023

Lenore Skenazy on the Let Grow Project

‘Thirty to forty years ago, this was actually a debatable question. Now that we have the data in hand it’s much less debatable’ 22.09.2023

Robert Lawson on the Economic Freedom of the World Index and improvements in economic liberty

‘If that sounds outrageous and corrupt, it’s because it is’ 08.09.2023

Pat Garofalo works to prevent lawmakers from signing nondisclosure agreements about business subsidy negotiations

‘Now it’s simply referred to as the Overton Window, as if everyone knows what it is’ 25.08.2023

Larry Reed and Joe Lehman on the Overton Window and Joe Overton

‘The power of these policies is to individualize education for children’ 11.08.2023

Jon England on supporting the changes in the education marketplace

‘This is my home and I’m going to fight for this thing’ 28.07.2023

Matt Paprocki on making a difference in Illinois policy

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