By Morf Morford, Tacoma Daily Index

Some words and phrases have a short shelf-life in the surging marketplace of ideas and information that seems to threaten to swamp us all.

Overton Window was one of those terms from several years ago that, in some circles at least, was, for a season, the latest breathless conspiracy-laced jargon that suddenly it seemed, explained everything. With all the passion of cable news and talk radio (back when that was a thing) hucksters of all types used the term to explain the moral and philosophical drifts our country, if not the world, seemed to be taking.

But, as the Good Book says, “there is nothing new under the sun”.

I had been talking about this idea in my classes for years. I didn’t have a fancy term or an elitist think-tank promoting my topic, but my version was just as potent and universal as the high-priced version.

If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.

The short version could not be more simple; we are comfortable with what we have done before. From shoes to music to tech devices or political platforms, it takes us a while to get used to new things. For normal people, who don’t have opportunistic “influencers” promoting our ideas or products, we could call it our comfort zone. And we experience it constantly.

Ever step into water and, at first, find it freezing and you want to get out, but after two minutes you get used to it and want to stay in? Every four-year old knows this principle. But for some reason, the idea took the cable news circuit by storm not that long ago.

When you think about it, almost everything is like that; from shoes to Taylor Swift, once something becomes familiar (or at least not extremely new) we can decide, relatively objectively, whether we do in fact like or agree with it. Or not.

Several years ago, when the term had a frenetic following, it referred to the “window” that frames the range of policies that a politician can recommend without appearing too extreme to gain or keep public office given the climate of public opinion at that time. In other words, politicians rarely “lead”; they follow the safe and established path made by (sometimes many) others.

The Overton Window, in other words, is a spectrum ranging from the novel, even shocking to the most mundane, routine and predictable.

One commentator put it this way; political theories (and fashion preferences) go from unthinkable to radical to acceptable to sensible to popular to established, popularly agreed-upon policy. And if there is anything most politicians (if not most of us) don’t want to do, it is to be associated with the first part of the scale and be seen as someone who is “rocking the boat” or espousing radical ideas.

I think we all know, that, in almost any category, after a year or two, virtually any idea, no matter how crazy, will become something approaching “normal” – or at least not “unacceptable”. Electric cars (and now, trucks) went from nearly non-existent just a few years ago to visible on virtually any street today. Pho and teriyaki places came out of nowhere a decade or so ago and are now in almost every strip-mall and neighborhood.

In short, that simple principle is how the world works. Every generation’s wild idea is the next generation’s “normal” – if not boring and predictable.

Politicians, or at least the lazy ones, “appeal to the base” – those that already agree with whatever the candidate (or party) says. To put it mildly, that is not where new ideas come from. No one will be inspired or challenged by slogans and assumptions that everyone already agrees with.

In short, if you go on a path where everyone else has already gone, you’ll end up where everyone else already is.

Playing it safe might be good for one’s political (or professional) career trajectory, but it won’t lead to a place in the history books, or innovation in any field – or even an interesting life.

One phrase that is still current in some circles is to “normalize” any statement or behavior.

Once scandalous, divorce has been “normalized”. Hot (or cold) weather takes some getting used to – but we all do it. By wearing shorts, or a sweater, or adjusting the thermostat, we “normalize” changing temperatures.

Getting back to work on a Monday morning is an adjustment to many of us, but by Wednesday most of us find our groove.

When it comes to money or innovation in any arena, the first one to do something sets the tone for the next, and when talking about financial leverage or competitive advantage, once leverage or a new strategy exists in a market, the first player to use it gains an advantage. But after that, everyone else must use that same leverage or approach just to keep even.

And as you may have noticed, the reigning principle of today’s economy is that everyone seems to be working more just to stay at the same place.

What was once within financial reach for a working person for example, is, for all too many in the 2020s, barely even in sight, let alone within reach.

A generation or so ago, a typical family could live well on one income. When women first entered the workforce on a permanent and widespread basis, it allowed two-income families to advance economically – at first. But second incomes quickly went from an advantage to a necessity as the price of housing (and mortgages) increased in response.

If there is anything almost all of us would agree on, it is that we all inhabit a world where, in housing, work, travel, communication and home life, and almost every other area, the “unthinkable” (or unimaginable) has become the “normal”.

Whichever terms we want to use, one thing we can count on is that everyday life a few years from now will be even more impossible to explain to previous generations.