Too fast, too furious: How the TPP allowed economics to trump politics

At its heart, the Trans-Pacific Partnership and deals like it are skeptical of democratic debate

President Obama and other world leaders pose during a TPP meeting in 2010.
(Image credit: (Illustrated | Image courtesy AP Photo/Charles Dharapak))

The divisive debate over the Trans-Pacific Partnership has made plain that international economics is the most important issue dividing both major political parties today. Republicans and Democrats alike confront all the concerns surrounding crony corporatism at the domestic level; at the global level, the stakes are magnified as the scale and speed of change increases.

So the TPP, which would draw a dozen Pacific Rim nations into an unprecedented economic pact, has drawn the ire of "far" leftists like Sen. Elizabeth Warren and "far" rightists of the Gadsden persuasion.

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James Poulos

James Poulos is a contributing editor at National Affairs and the author of The Art of Being Free, out January 17 from St. Martin's Press. He has written on freedom and the politics of the future for publications ranging from The Federalist to Foreign Policy and from Good to Vice. He fronts the band Night Years in Los Angeles, where he lives with his son.