DEFINING 'THE MIDDLE'

New House Leadership To Test Political Center

There’s a political concept known as the Overton Window. It’s essentially the range of thought that’s considered acceptably mainstream and it’s typically where most decisions are made. However, it can shift and expand over time, meaning what’s palatable to voters changes –successful politicians and parties are skilled at reading those political tea leaves.

With Democrats in charge in Lansing of the Governorship, Senate, and House, they’ll now hold the power to shape the agenda.

Newly minted House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) agrees the mosteffective governance takes place in the political center. But the decisions made by leaders effect those boundaries and he sees no reason why that will be any different in the next two to four years.

“It’s definitely a consequence of whoever’s in this office,” he said. “And I think for me to be able to get things done, what my caucus feels strongly about, what we promised to people, I think naturally shifts the Overton Window to what becomes more embedded into what we do as a society.” At the federal level, examples include Medicare and Medicaid, the Voting Rights Act, and the Affordable Care Act. The ACA in Michigan is the expanded Medicaid program that just enrolled another 322,273 people who might not otherwise qualify for health coverage.

And so, by Tate’s thinking, what happens over the next couple of years in Lansing will redefine in ways large and small what’s normal and possible in Michigan politics.

“There’s a wide middle – and I think everyone has a different definition of that,” he said. “I think bipartisanship is important, but more important than that is ensuring that we’re getting things done and we’re making people’s lives better and if that takes, sometimes, some partisanship, then that’s what we have to do.”