A Member from the Local Yokel Urban Farmer's Party

ONE MORE REASON TO BE A LOCAL YOKEL

and furthermore, TPP may be a good reason to start growing your own food. 

(But this is only an educated guess based on history of how other US trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade agreement have devastated the American job market and ruined small farmers in other countries.  It’s an educated guess because Congress is not allowing the American people to see what’s in this agreement before it is voted on; therefore, I can only guess, as can many of the Senators who likely aren’t even reading the trade agreement.

As I read somewhere recently:  "The real point of these “free trade” agreements is to allow for a free flow of commodities, intellectual property, pharmaceuticals, pesticides and GMOs around the world, not protect the American people.)"

_______________________________________________________________

If the American people paid more attention to what their elected officials did in office than to the homage they pay to the party they identify with and to the campaign rhetoric of the candidates from their party of choice, few politicians would ever get re-elected and most of the lives of the people who live on Main Street would improve.  But this is not the case.

Instead, the politicians from both parties rile up and polarize the American public with their campaign rhetoric, which is designed exactly for the purpose of dividing the people into two opposing camps.  To do this, their rhetoric is focused on irrelevant useless topics such as whether or not the candidate wears a flag pin (most of which are made in China anyway).  Real issues such as the need for jobs for Americans and the rising poverty in our nation are not among the topics.

___________________________________________________________

This much we do know about the Trans Pacific Partnership trade agreement (TPP), which the Senate just passed yesterday:  It gives President Obama alone the full authority to negotiate this trade agreement.  We also know that its proponents claim that it aims to counter China’s rising power.  However, this is just a claim made by politicians.  The American people don’t know what is in that bill because they aren’t allowed to see it.  Even the Senators reviewing it had to do so in a closed room and they were not allowed to take notes.  Why the secrecy?

The bill is now headed for the House of Representatives.  If the House passes this bill, President Obama will have the power to negotiate trade pacts with other countries and submit them to Congress without lawmakers being able to introduce amendments to them.

___________________________________________________________

For you Texans, you might remember that both Senator Cornyn and Senator Ted Cruz voted for this bill.  As I’m sure most of you realize, both of these men have done almost nothing but rail against Obama every chance they get because they know that’s the red meat the people who voted for them want to knaw on.  Keep them polarized and riled up against Obama.  [Possible Strategy at work here:  Then they won’t notice how we vote.  All they care about is that we don’t like Obama.]  Unfortunately the majority seem to fall for it because other than my query below to Senators Cornyn and Cruz which holds their feet to the fire, I haven't read of others doing this.

So with all their reservations against President Obama which both men have been so public about, a thinking person would ask:  why on earth would they vote for a bill that turns over the henhouse to a man they have more than once called out as the fox?  You’ll have to think and figure that one out for yourself.

______________________________________________________________

My own theory on this is that there is no daylight between the Democratic and the Republican leadership.  They all are after the same thing, which basically is to increase their own personal wealth while in office.  If you look at the net worth of these people who have been in office for a while, you can see they have been quite successful at doing this.

But I believe in giving everyone the benefit of the doubt.  Therefore, I sent the following message to both US Senators from Texas, Cornyn and Cruz.  I’ll let you know if I get a response.

___________________________________________________

Dear Senator;

I know from your campaign rhetoric that you do not approve of President Obama's leadership any more than I do.

That being recognized, I have to ask:

Why on earth then would you vote for a bill that will give Obama alone the full authority to negotiate the trade agreement?  WHY?  This implies to me that you trust his judgment.

In fact sir, I would ask that since even Senators and their staffers who read the bill are not allowed to take notes on the trade agreement out of the room:  1) have you in fact even read this bill that you are voting on and 2) why should it be secret?

Sincerely

Elizabeth Berry