The Senators can read the TPP but most are unable to understand it and they

[CK_John]

are too vain to admit it.

We deserve to government we get.

[Koinos]

1. The Importance of Staff

Most elected officials rely upon well-trained staff members to ingest and digest their information for them. In the case of the TPP, staff members who do not have security clearance cannot even accompany senators into the reading area. Senators cannot even keep whatever notes they are able to take. All of this is designed to discourage senators from reading the actual "draft" themselves. The parts that have been leaked are not all that hard to understand, even for a layman like myself; but it takes time.

Of course, some senators and representatives do not even read the legislation that they themselves are submitting on behalf of the lobbyists they represent. But that is a different story.

[CK_John]

2. Correct, but it is time to start electing a Congress that knows what the hell is going

on.

[Koinos]

3. Agreed.

But to do that, we need people -- voters -- who know what the hell is going on. Folks have got to stop watching the TV and crack open a few books now and then. Only a truly educated public can govern themselves responsibly and see the difference between fact and fiction, reality and appearance.

Low information voters end up voting for low information politicians or liars. They can't tell the difference between people who know what they are talking about and people who do not. Education is the foundation of democratic society. Propaganda is the basis of tyranny.

We don't have enough time to re-educate America before the curtain falls. I say this as a teacher who spent his whole life trying to teach critical thinking.