Pres. Obama tells Dems, on TTP: "Get informed, not by reading the Huffington Post"

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257. the entire process is anti-democratic

...the rationale for the autocratic negotiations from the Executive branch being that the pesky legislators will look to impose their individual will on the legislation. It's no accident or coincidence that all sorts of changes to law which have little to do with actual trade are stacked in the bill, in this instance, with dozens of corporations with hundreds of corporate representatives allowed to view the language in the treaty and influence many of the key provisions before Congress even has a say.

All of that is coupled with the administration's push for fast-track which would allow the President to sign the treaty before our legislators approve it and limit debate and bar any amendment or changes. It's a insidious betrayal of our democratic process of law. It's that very anti-democratic process, in the past, which produced trade agreements which are unrepresentative of what the American public wants and supports.

Of course, there are those who believe our input into the political process should be nothing more than a thumbs-up, or a thumbs-down, ignoring the very basic tenets of advocacy and activism; disregarding our voices in favor of 'experts' and 'professionals' who will tell us what's good for us.