What most people don't understand about the TPP.

[zipplewrath]

38. The paragraph that should bother you

The TPP will be approved by Congress. It will go into effect. Everyone should know that. It will be followed to some degree, and ignored to some larger degree. If the overall effect is positive, it will do some good. But it will be approved, because such agreements are essential to have some sort of regulation for international trade.

If you think about this, in the context of a representative democracy, this should be really frightening to you. It's what leads to pitch forks. Especially when you realize who's been "in" on the negotiations, and who has been excluded lately. And this is especially true when combined with this.

That's why the TPP isn't going to really be an issue in the 2016 elections. It will be approved and go into force, regardless of the outcome of the elections in the United States. It's a way bigger thing than one nation can dictate. It goes beyond the politics of any single nation.

What you're saying is that our trade policy is outside of the democratic process, and being conducted by a tiny fraction of the worlds population. Furthermore we intentionally exclude the peoples representative as indicated by this paragraph.

That is why TPA or the fast track authority is necessary. Without it, legislative bodies will attempt to add and subtract portions of the agreement. Congress, for example, which is controlled by Republicans, would inject countless amendments to an agreement, mostly to brag about to individual member's supporters. Each of those would have to be accepted by the other participating nations. That is an impossibility, since Congress is a collective idiot, and will attempt to force irrelevant issues into the agreement.

What you are describing is at BEST an oligarchy, and at worse a benign dictatorship.