Yeah I mean main challenge in this and other agenda-setting is measuring the "denominator." What really is available but kept off the table by all mainsteam actors?

Sure but that's a different process. The Overton Window is not a "thing" you can study. It's a rhetorical device. What's the empirical referent? ~some proposals are considered acceptable to debate and others aren't?

Actually put that way sounds kind of like Third Face of Power (or maybe the 4th?)

Well, so the Overton Window doesn't come from scholarship, it is a concept that eponymous Overton used to explain the value of think tanks to potential funders of the Mackinac Center, where he worked. One could try to conceptualize and measure it, but for now there's basically nothing to cite.

Looks cool!

I am sorry I came off as condescending. It was not my intent.

My original interlocutor won't see this, but for some suggestive evidence that cynicism actually is bad, including for the things that we're all worried about in America in 2025: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

I understand your cynicism given everything going on right now, but FWIW "American politics" is not one thing. It is the work of many people. Some can be moved by persistence, building trust, and good arguments. Usually not the folks you see on the news.

Again, cynicism is self-perpetuating.

Also I don't know about you but I've never had that kind of money to throw around (including when I was a lobbyist before grad school) so I have had to resort to, like, persistence, building trust, and making good arguments.

Poli Sci has studied the incidence of bribery and effectiveness of campaign contributions on legislative behavior and outcomes. Long-running debate in poli sci with surprisingly mixed results given how intuitive/"obvious" it is to so many that money buys policy. Cynicism is self-perpetuating.

FWIW, from staff interviews and theoretical models, I'd guess obvious form letters have ~zero persuasive value. If they're from non-constituents, they're actively self-defeating. But persuasive value is not the only thing: engaging w/ elected officials between elections is a good habit to build!

You are quite welcome! This is very much the tip of the iceberg and there's a great group of scholars working in this and related areas.

I am happy to answer questions if folks have any, but for starters:

This report: www.congressfoundation.org/citizen-cent...

This article: www.pnas.org/doi/epdf/10.... and I'm teaching Lupia's more recent book in my class: global.oup.com/academic/pro... . (he was SBE asst director at NSF)

Hi! I'm a political scientist who studies what makes advocacy effective (sent here by my psychologist spouse @tierneylorenz.bsky.social ). A phone call with the staffer dealing with the issue > letter you compose on your own >>>>> a form letter. Key: be unique + courteous + make effort.

Small-ish for a "city" but still pretty big

I'd say Lincoln, NE is pretty well-governed.