Yes, please make this happen! Being vocal is one of the best tools available. Call out these vile and illegal actions at every step, while providing a sane alternative.
Thank you Wiley. I sent an email to Deborah Ross and suggested the same thing after I saw a clip of Timothy Snyder on Rachel Maddow. Sadly, the reactive messaging to the chaos (and not the Cause Chaos of the 'Canes kind) has not been strong enough. Who do we need to call daily until this is set up?
You need to summarize it to make it clearer, easier to share, and not sound as if it's "shadowy." It sounds like you want to organize and assign specific tasks to people in power, which is great. If I'm wrong, please let me know. You should also share a simplified, easy-to-read version and updates on Facebook and YouTube.
The word shadow has definitely triggered the far-right. We could easily call it something else but the British have used that word to describe their system for close to 100 years. Folks in Canada, Australia and Great Britain have been doing this for a long time.
It really is a great idea, and I've never fully understood why we don't already have something like it here. One problem is that Democratic party activism has essentially been privatized, tons of money moving to single or limited issue PACs and 501c4s. It's absolute malpractice that Democrats didn't spend election day to Musk's swearing in preparing a full blown organizational response. It leaves me uncertain as to whether there's actually a functioning Democratic party, or just a handful of elected officials who do earned and online media.
Love this idea. A Shadow Cabinet could give Democrats the backbone and clarity we desperately need. But here’s the rub: how exactly does this happen? In the UK, it’s baked into the system. Here, not so much. Who appoints these folks? How do we ensure it’s more than a well-meaning stunt? If it’s just symbolic, it risks being political cosplay. If it’s serious, it could be a game changer. I’m all in, but I’d love to hear how you plan to make this real, not just rhetoric.
What worries me about the "do now" part is that people on the sociopath spectrum have been working long, and long getting better at, undermining the truths or call them the insights upon which democratic representative government was created. The reality of conscience is ridiculed. The Golden Rule is transmuted into its cynical opposite, "Do unto others before they can do unto you!" And then there is the social contract. I recently checked with some friends who graduated from college is the 60s. If the topic was covered at all in the freshman course called "Western Civ," it was finished in five or ten minutes.
In a mixed state when half the people are following the "I promise not to hurt you if you don't hurt me," rule, and half the people are not and instead may do anything in stealth mode, more and more people will feel betrayed and go over to the other side. The next probable development is that the wolves will form packs,and then there will be gang warfare.
If you do not have a king who rules in the "off with their heads" mode, you need a society in which everyone is well socialized to control themselves. In that kind of society, the need for the law is to intervene in conflict of interest cases, and deal with the occasional sociopath or otherwise not working within the "conspiracy" of people who have made the silent social contract.
In a society in trouble, where the government is ignporing or opposed to the needs of ordinary people, a shadow government can provide for free some of the services that the government cannot supply.
Bernie Sanders is the only one on the national stage who seems to me to see where the problem is, or at least where part of the real problem is.I don't see others trying to understand where the democrat leaders let the "rust belt"people down. What are the chances for productive interventions made people who do not really understand where the problems come from?
The democratic party IS the problem. Open borders and men in womens sports are examples of policies that must change before the party can return to popularity. A further cram down of such unpopular and irrational ideas is not going to do it.
This is exactly the leadership we need! Thank you!
💯
The Opinion Piece in the Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/11/11/shadow-cabinet-democrats-opposition-trump/
Just do it!
Yes, please make this happen! Being vocal is one of the best tools available. Call out these vile and illegal actions at every step, while providing a sane alternative.
We’ve gotta get much tougher. Doing the same thing over and over will produce the same results.
Thank you Wiley. I sent an email to Deborah Ross and suggested the same thing after I saw a clip of Timothy Snyder on Rachel Maddow. Sadly, the reactive messaging to the chaos (and not the Cause Chaos of the 'Canes kind) has not been strong enough. Who do we need to call daily until this is set up?
I’ve been pushing all of my former colleagues in Congress to do this. It’s an idea whose time has come. Please continue spreading the word.
You need to summarize it to make it clearer, easier to share, and not sound as if it's "shadowy." It sounds like you want to organize and assign specific tasks to people in power, which is great. If I'm wrong, please let me know. You should also share a simplified, easy-to-read version and updates on Facebook and YouTube.
The word shadow has definitely triggered the far-right. We could easily call it something else but the British have used that word to describe their system for close to 100 years. Folks in Canada, Australia and Great Britain have been doing this for a long time.
I like it and am here to help. We need to build momentum quickly.
Wiley, I signed. I was just thinking of you when I got an email about you.
Thanks so much Ruth. I wish I had started on Substack sooner. It’s a great way to communicate bigger ideas.
Substack is a good place to help activate a shadow cabinet.
Like the idea and signed the petition. What do your colleagues in the Senate and House think? How exactly would this be implemented?
The minority leaders (Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer) could just appoint members. That’s how it’s done in the UK.
It's a good idea. I signed the petition.
Best,
Conover
Appreciate it Conover! Wishing you the best.
I’m signing the petition now…thank you for thinking of this.
It really is a great idea, and I've never fully understood why we don't already have something like it here. One problem is that Democratic party activism has essentially been privatized, tons of money moving to single or limited issue PACs and 501c4s. It's absolute malpractice that Democrats didn't spend election day to Musk's swearing in preparing a full blown organizational response. It leaves me uncertain as to whether there's actually a functioning Democratic party, or just a handful of elected officials who do earned and online media.
Same
Love this idea. A Shadow Cabinet could give Democrats the backbone and clarity we desperately need. But here’s the rub: how exactly does this happen? In the UK, it’s baked into the system. Here, not so much. Who appoints these folks? How do we ensure it’s more than a well-meaning stunt? If it’s just symbolic, it risks being political cosplay. If it’s serious, it could be a game changer. I’m all in, but I’d love to hear how you plan to make this real, not just rhetoric.
What worries me about the "do now" part is that people on the sociopath spectrum have been working long, and long getting better at, undermining the truths or call them the insights upon which democratic representative government was created. The reality of conscience is ridiculed. The Golden Rule is transmuted into its cynical opposite, "Do unto others before they can do unto you!" And then there is the social contract. I recently checked with some friends who graduated from college is the 60s. If the topic was covered at all in the freshman course called "Western Civ," it was finished in five or ten minutes.
In a mixed state when half the people are following the "I promise not to hurt you if you don't hurt me," rule, and half the people are not and instead may do anything in stealth mode, more and more people will feel betrayed and go over to the other side. The next probable development is that the wolves will form packs,and then there will be gang warfare.
If you do not have a king who rules in the "off with their heads" mode, you need a society in which everyone is well socialized to control themselves. In that kind of society, the need for the law is to intervene in conflict of interest cases, and deal with the occasional sociopath or otherwise not working within the "conspiracy" of people who have made the silent social contract.
In a society in trouble, where the government is ignporing or opposed to the needs of ordinary people, a shadow government can provide for free some of the services that the government cannot supply.
Bernie Sanders is the only one on the national stage who seems to me to see where the problem is, or at least where part of the real problem is.I don't see others trying to understand where the democrat leaders let the "rust belt"people down. What are the chances for productive interventions made people who do not really understand where the problems come from?
That is the best idea I have heard yet!!!! Please, please do exactly that!!!!!
Wiley,
The democratic party IS the problem. Open borders and men in womens sports are examples of policies that must change before the party can return to popularity. A further cram down of such unpopular and irrational ideas is not going to do it.
This is great! I don’t understand why the democrats in congress didn’t invite Zelensky when he was kicked out of the White House.