The Trans-Pacific Partnership, billed as a trade agreement, comprises a massive assault on democracy, here and abroad. It will give corporations the power to subvert the laws of sovereign, democratic states. Unelected private-sector tribunals, operating outside the domestic court system, will be able to thwart regulations on financial speculation, pollution, the outsourcing of jobs, etc. Any public-service laws standing in the way of bankers and corporatists will be under attack.
And while President Obama facilitates this corporate coup, Republicans scream, "Socialism!" It's brilliant.
Not even the U.S. senator with jurisdiction over the Trans- Pacific Partnership has access to the U.S.'s Trans-Pacific Partnership proposals. Not to worry, 600 corporate honchos are participating in the secret negotiations as official U.S. trade advisors. But these people are not negotiating trade. They are negotiating an end to the democratic control over the forces ravaging our economy and the planet.
David A. Sorensen
Duluth
