Two hundred and fifty years ago, bold ideas changed the world.

Shots heard round the world ignited the American Revolution, but the rebellion began years earlier in the minds of the people. Their ideas of liberty, representative and limited government, and democratic accountability dared them to declare independence from the most powerful nation on Earth.

How did that happen? How do ideas move from fringe to mainstream to willing-to-die-for?

Join us for a presentation by Michael Van Beek, director of research at the Mackinac Center, titled, “The Power of Ideas: The Overton Window and the American Revolution.” Van Beek will connect the 250th anniversary of America’s to the Overton Window: a framework for understanding the range of ideas considered politically possible at a given moment.

Joseph G. Lehman, president of the Mackinac Center, will also provide an update on the Center’s work and the policy battles shaping Michigan’s future.

This promises to be an engaging and thought-provoking morning — one that reminds us that lasting change begins not with guns and ammo, but with ideas and minds.