Shadow Cabinet!!!

[whalerider55]

Terrific idea- having lived in England, the idea of having a "point person" on each issue is eminently appealing...

head over to Daily Kos for the full treatment.
http://www.dailykos.com/


Democrats Need a Shadow Government
by Meteor Blades
Mon Nov 22nd, 2004 at 00:15:12 PST

<snip>
...I’ve always thought the Westminster system of parliamentary government had a feature I wish the U.S. government would adopt. The shadow cabinet.

The name says it all. The government – in Britain, Australia and Canada, among others - appoints cabinet ministers, and the opposition party (or parties) chooses members of a shadow cabinet to keep tabs on the shenanigans and other activities of those ministers. The shadow cabinet is, in effect, the alternative administration. There can be just a few shadow ministers, the Tories in the U.K. currently have six; or a boxcar load, Labour in Australia has 32.

Shadow cabinets call themselves the Loyal Opposition. In Britain and Canada, it’s Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition. The Royal Loyals, as it were, the very name making the point that opposition does not equate with treason. No pretense is made that the opposition’s role is non-partisan. On the contrary, its job is to oppose, and the shadow ministers provide its whetstone. Quite often, if elections turn the tables on the party in power, shadow ministers join the cabinet in their same role.

Despite all the obvious problems with forming and operating a shadow cabinet outside a parliamentary system designed for it - for instance, having to deal with prerogatives of the separate leadership of party, Senate and House - Democrats ought to appoint shadow secretaries.

I bet you think I have some people in mind. I do. For instance, Gary Hart as Shadow Secretary of Defense would be an appointment I’d smile about. Ed Dobson at Interior. Juliet Schor at Labor. I’m sure everybody here has plenty of favorites, and most of mine are way off the left edge of what’s acceptable across the spectrum. There’s no single best person for each job. And some jobs for shadowing purposes could be combined, like the Brits do.

But whatever suitably intricate system is used to fill out its ranks, a shadow cabinet will only work if the folks chosen are willing to scrutinize, publicly criticize and strive to neutralize what their opposite numbers in the cabinet (and a few high-level agencies) are doing. Shadowers with spine and gumption no matter where they stand in the Democratic spectrum.

Given what’s gone down in the past four years, I’d personally like to see a few additional shadow secretaries: one each to monitor the domestic and foreign Departments of Shameless Lies, Concoctions and Made-up Crapola; and one (with a zillion shadow-undersecretaries) to watchdog the Department of Figuring Out How to Sneak Around the Rules Passed to Curtail Democrats But Not Yet Openly Eliminated to Benefit Republicans.

[PDittie]

1. This should ABSOLUTELY be done

as quickly as possible.

And all of those Democrats who wish to raise their profiles for 2008 should sign on.

[laheina]

2. Yup.

The added visibility is an extra bonus. Great idea!

[noamnety]

3. I LOVE this idea.

It gives us visibility, and a 4 year campaign against the administration, in a nutshell.