Even somewhat transparent and poor advocacy.

It all starts with an idea, I was familiar with through my own common sense and intuition, but have never actually realized as a conceptual tool. We all have these, and I'm hoping you find this illuminating in the same way I do, when something like this is presented.

The KSKD term for this is, "The Wow, I Get It!" moment.

I've engaged in advocacy for a long time. My simple reasoning was that one can only really lose by not speaking; therefore, some effort spent communicating with others, and most importantly, listening to them at the same time, is well worth the time and effort.

Cue the Overton Window:

http://www.mackinac.org/article.aspx?ID=7504

And it, put into context:

http://www.balloon-juice.com/?p=7721

Essentially the idea is that for any given subject matter, be it two dimensional (polarized) or multi-dimensional (more than two core positions to work from), there is a subset of possible opinion that is deemed acceptable.

That's the Overton Window.

For a two dimensional space, imagine some shape that is filled with some color, say green. Within that shape is the range of acceptable opinion. Now, imagine that shape contained in a somewhat larger box. That's the boundaries of thought on the issue. (Could just be a bigger shape too)

Outside that lies that which has not yet been put forward, either through lack of understanding, or because it simply does not make any sense. The fringe, whackos nutballs, and others are the ones working hard to expand the box, pulling on it and tugging on it so as to sway the scope of things and thus give the range of acceptable opinion room to grow.

Advocacy lies within the box, and is therefore an accepted means of expanding opinion, or moving it.

So, if you are willing to work hard, the issues are mallable things, thus advocacy can and does matter in the shorter term more than the average person would think. This also suggests the recent trend toward Internet politics will have significant ramifications where these things are concerned.

Prior to people powered politics, enabled by the Internet and it's mass publishing capabilities, swaying opinon took dollars and connections to reach the means to do so. Now, it's more about connections than it is dollars and I think this is an American thing, and it is a good thing.

I'll leave the rest to you, but I found this whole idea very interesting, and thought I would share!