{"id":37774,"date":"2024-11-21T22:56:23","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T06:56:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=37774"},"modified":"2024-11-21T22:56:24","modified_gmt":"2024-11-22T06:56:24","slug":"opinion-what-should-democrats-do-now-form-a-shadow-cabinet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/11\/21\/opinion-what-should-democrats-do-now-form-a-shadow-cabinet\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion\u00a0\u00a0What should Democrats do now? Form a shadow cabinet."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The venerable British institution of the opposition would serve America well today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Capitol building seen on Sept. 26, in Washington. (Maansi Srivastava for the Washington Post)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Wiley Nickel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

November 11, 2024 at 10:10 a.m. EST (WashingtonPost.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wiley Nickel, a Democrat, represents North Carolina\u2019s 13th District in the U.S. House of Representatives.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week stung. As Democrats, we simply failed to convince the American people we have better ideas to solve their problems. Now, we need to dust ourselves off and get ready to fight. We can\u2019t let Donald Trump\u2019s radical agenda go unanswered or unopposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sign up for the Prompt 2024 newsletter for answers to the election\u2019s biggest questions<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s an idea for how to organize our opposition: We need to borrow from our British friends and appoint a shadow cabinet to fight back against the worst excesses of a second Trump administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The special relationship between the United States and Britain extends not just to our strength on the world stage but also to our shared belief in democracy. Across the Atlantic, the British have something we don\u2019t: a team from the opposition that mirrors the government\u2019s cabinet members. They watch the cabinet closely, publicly challenging, scrutinizing and offering new ideas. It\u2019s another form of checks and balances \u2014 a quiet guardrail that keeps power accountable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a shadow cabinet, there is no hiding. Each decision by the government faces a ready counterpoint \u2014 not just from the media and voters but also from political leaders poised to (theoretically) step in. Shadow cabinet members can also become the clear point people for advocacy and grassroots organizers, making it easier to unify and amplify ideas and solutions out of favor among those in power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow<\/strong>\u00a0Opinions on the news<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s democracy\u2019s insurance policy. And it strengthens the government, too: There is no room for lazy ideas when rivals stand ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what would a shadow cabinet look like here in the United States? We have an amazing wealth of talent on the Democratic side of the aisle in Congress \u2014 people loyal to the Constitution and ready to serve in opposition. Democratic leaders Hakeem Jeffries (New York) in the House and Charles E. Schumer (New York) in the Senate could appoint 26 members of Congress to go one-on-one with each member of Trump\u2019s Cabinet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Trump attempts to weaponize the justice system against his political opponents, we could see incoming Sen. Adam Schiff (California), as our shadow attorney general, arguing against replacing our independent prosecutors with Trump loyalists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Trump seeks to eliminate the Education Department, Rep. Jahana Hayes (Connecticut), a former teacher of the year, could step up as shadow education secretary to loudly defend it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Trump tries to hand Ukraine and much of Eastern Europe to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (New York), as shadow secretary of state, could be a strong voice in support of maintaining international relationships and protecting democracy at home and abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Michael Bennet (Colorado), as shadow treasury secretary, and Rep. Suzan DelBene (Washington), as shadow commerce secretary, could help ensure the middle class and small businesses have a voice in government, and call out Trump\u2019s proposed tax cuts for billionaires and corporations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Adam Smith (Washington), as shadow defense secretary, could counter Trump\u2019s threat to use military force against his political opponents and work to ensure that the Defense Department stays loyal to the Constitution and not a wannabe dictator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Sen. Tammy Duckworth (Illinois) could argue against cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs that would delay the benefits and care our service members have rightly earned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If Trump hands over the Environmental Protection Agency to the fossil fuel industry, we could see Rep. Kathy Castor (Florida) pushing back for environmental protection and conservation to protect the air we breathe and the water we drink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if Trump pushes to ban abortion<\/a> nationwide, Rep. Rosa DeLauro could step in, as shadow secretary of health and human services, to defend women\u2019s right to choose and argue against the gutting of Medicare by Trump and his cronies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New times require new solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This shadow cabinet isn\u2019t just about opposing extreme MAGA attacks on our government. It\u2019s also about making clear what we stand for, which is something we didn\u2019t do enough this election cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s time to show \u2014 not just say \u2014 what we\u2019re for: justice, accountability and democracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The venerable British institution of the opposition would serve America well today. The Capitol building seen on Sept. 26, in Washington. (Maansi Srivastava for the Washington Post) By Wiley Nickel November 11, 2024 at 10:10 a.m. EST (WashingtonPost.com) Wiley Nickel, a Democrat, represents North Carolina\u2019s 13th District in the U.S. House… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37774"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37774"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37777,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37774\/revisions\/37777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}