Listening to the partisan political debate, some people may think that the only way for government policies to change is to elect the right people. While elections are important, they are not the only way that policies get changed. Another possibility
is that the Overton Window shifts when some ideas become more popular, and the change can make previously unthinkable policies possible. I spoke with the Mackinac Center’s director of research,
Michael Van Beek, to talk about how the Overton Window changes. We looked at the new ways policymakers thought about taxi regulations and what caused them to rethink their approach.