How the Overton Window Shapes Political Discussions

The Modernist Perspective Podcast

So a lot of people ask me why the Modernist Perspective tends to be so liberal and how my beliefs got to be that way. Well as many listening to our podcast know I lived in Europe for quite awhile and it changed my perspective on politics quite a bit. In political discourse the overton window or window of discourse is the area of acceptable policies and the middle ground that makes it up.

The United States compared to other countries that makeup western democracy has an overton window that has been dragged much farther to the right. The joke among many Europeans is that America is the only western democracy governed by two conservative parties. Data shows that they are right. The Democrat’s and Republican’s for the most part are on the right dividing line of the political spectrum. Tell any European or Canadian that universal healthcare or common sense gun reform is socialist and you’d get laughed out of a room.

So why is this? Why has America been so conservative? Well the right leaning religious movements such as Evangelicals have been gaining a lot of influence as the years have gone by. Then there is conservative media which preys on fear. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering. Which unfortunately describes a lot of where the Republican party under Trump has gone. People are afraid of change they fear it, they don’t like the idea that the world they grew up in changes to have different ideas. The responsibility of a good news organization is getting people to accept change and understand why it is happening. Conservative media too often weaponizes fear but fear is an uncomfortable sensation so it has to be turned into anger, a side effect of which is hatred toward the groups accused of commiting wrongs.

The Modernist Perspective leans liberal because we are influenced by mainstream politics throughout western democracy including Europe. So for us what is considered liberal in American politics is considered fairly standard in many places throughout the world. Hope you enjoyed this new content and stay with us as we get through our new podcasts.

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