The Democrats are voting this morning to elect the Minority Leader in the House, a vote which Nancy Pelosi is expected to win relatively easily, despite a challenge from a section of the party that thinks leadership should be noncoastal, the better to focus on the white working class voters we lost in the last election, or younger and with less seniority, to project an image of change and innovation. Rep. Pelosi has made the case that Democrats are already a party that speaks to the needs of the working class of all races — we are, after all, the party of the minimum wage, union membership, workplace protections, health insurance, and every other priority a “working class agenda” would be focused on -- and yet somehow a man who owns a gold-plated toilet beat us on messaging.
Perhaps we could address both concerns with something. In the UK, the opposition party names a Shadow Cabinet: they promote specific members of the party as unofficial versions of the various Ministers, to promulgate the opposition’s ideas on issues that those Ministers deal with. It would be straightforward to adapt the idea to the United States: the Democrats would appoint a shadow Secretary of State, HUD, Treasury, Education, et cetera. When (and often before) President Trump’s billionaire anti-government incompetents propose breaking this safety net program or that institution of democracy, the Democrats would have a specific go-to name, promoting the Democratic version of what we would have done if the majority had ruled in the last election.
When they break Medicare, the Shadow Secretary of HHS would be there explaining how we would have supported it.
When they break the tax code, the Shadow Secretary of the Treasury would be there explaining how we would have made it fairer.
When they break the Department of Justice, the Shadow Attorney General would be there explaining how we would have preserved its ethical independence and its focus on civil liberties. He or she would also, quite possibly, be leading Democrats’ litigation responses to the more extreme violations of the rule of law.
When they break the nation’s infrastructure into the profitable chunks thrown to private profiteers for pennies on the dollar, and unprofitable chunks left to rot, the Shadow Secretaries of HUD and Transportation would be there promoting the Democrats’ infrastructure plan, the one that actually gets things built without dumping cash into the pockets of the well-connected.
Ever wanted to see Elizabeth Warren as Secretary of Commerce? Think we ought to nominate a Midwesterner as Secretary of Labor and hear what they have to say? Here’s your chance. It’s ersatz, but it has good solid British tradition behind it. With some funding for an actual staff to write up legislative proposals, this can be more than just an officeplate and a face attached to platform positions.
(Appointment process: in the UK the shadow ministers are appointed by the “leader of the party.” Since we would need a Shadow Cabinet when we are in opposition, I would suggest that the selection process take into account that we would have just lost an election: have appointments be made by the top two vote-getters in the Democratic primary of that year, the chairperson of the DNC, and the leaders in the House and Senate (Speaker/Minority Leader and Majority Leader/Minority Leader, as the case may be).)