Can a centrist shadow cabinet help voters triumph?
What is a shadow cabinet?
The UK’s parliamentary website can answer this one:
The Shadow Cabinet is the team of senior spokespeople chosen by the Leader of the Opposition to mirror the Cabinet in Government. Each member of the shadow cabinet is appointed to lead on a specific policy area for their party and to question and challenge their counterpart in the Cabinet. In this way the Official Opposition seeks to present itself as an alternative government-in-waiting.
https://www.parliament.uk/site-information/glossary/shadow-cabinet/
Why would a centrist party need one of these?
There are tons of reasons for implementing this in a centrist party. First off, most people don’t actually know what centrist policy would look like. Parties have been very good at painting political centrists as wishy-washy moderates. Second, having a quick response team on social media with ready-made alternatives may raise a party’s profile. It may also elevate the stature of the people who would “serve” on this shadow cabinet.
How would a centrist party create a shadow cabinet?
Let’s assume we’re talking about the Alliance Party, because they seem to have the most energy at this point. I would suggest picking three knowledgeable party members to start as:
- Alliance Party Shadow Secretary of State
- Alliance Party Shadow Secretary of Treasury
- Alliance Party Shadow Secretary of Defense
Those seem to be the big ones, right? Have these people study the current policy of the GOP and Democrats, and have the Alliance Party (in this case) create viable and popular policy alternatives. Then just hound the two parties over and over again on social media. Put up a flagpole that voters can rally around.
From there, it’s a matter of selecting a Phase 2. These seem to be the shadow cabinet roles where a centrist party would be strong:
- Alliance Party Shadow Science and Technology Secretary
- Alliance Party Shadow Transportation Secretary
- Alliance Party Shadow Energy Secretary
- Alliance Party Shadow Education Secretary
After that, feel free to create other shadow roles for policy areas that are entirely missing in both parties.
