Remember how our ancestors fought the American Revolution over, among other things and

[JDPriestly]

maybe first and foremost, taxation without representation.

Well. Taxation without representation is precisely what our many multi-national trade agreements including our membership in the WTO and the TPP and NAFTA and others are about.

These agreements allow corporations to sue our government in courts that are not under the jurisdiction of American voters -- us.

With their lawsuits in those courts, corporations can obtain hefty settlements or even verdicts that require our country to pay them "damages" for losses that have not occurred but that they claim will occur in the future due to laws enacted in our country by our democratically elected, constitutionally established legislatures and other agencies and governments.

When our governments are in this way "fined" or forced to pay damages or settlements to these corporations, guess who ends up and will end up paying the bills: US, US taxpayers whose taxes will be raised to pay the damages awards.

That is unacceptable. If corporations want to do business in the US, they need to abide by the laws that are passed by the legislatures, and other democratically constituted law-making and regulation-making bodies in the US.

If corporations want to do business in other countries, they need to obey the laws of those countries.

We have no obligation to pay taxes in order to satisfy damage awards or settlements with international corporations unless we decide as members of juries serving with the US that we will do so.

We fought one revolution over taxation without representation. I hate to think what might happen if we are required to pay taxes to satisfy some claim by some international corporation like Halliburton or Apple or Chevron or Exxon or General Electric.

Nothing wrong with those corporations, but we taxpayers should not allow ourselves to be placed in a position in which we either have no sovereign ability to determine what laws should govern us or we have to pay taxes to pay the companies off. It's like a sort of blackmail.

I know this will sound over the top to many who do not understand what I am talking about. But if you understand how laws work, how litigation works, if you can imagine how you would feel if your tax bill went up to satisfy a judgment against the US or your city or state because of an environmental or labor law that was passed with broad support among the voters, then you will understand what I am writing about.

This is not over the top.

I read recently that taxpayers will be required to pay a large judgment to a family whose child was killed by a police officer in an American city should that family win in court.

That is the way justice should work. If an employee of an American city kills your son or daughter brutally and using excessive force, you should be entitled to damages. And the taxpayers have to pay those damages.

But corporations should not be able to sue cities or our country for damages they believe they will suffer or even have suffered because of our laws. We are a sovereign nation. We should not submit ourselves to what equates to taxation without representation. We have been here before.

No to these multinational trade deals that set up courts in which corporations have standing to sue countries. No. No. No. Been there before. Not doing it again.

Don't lose the spirit of 1776.

We can vote to tax ourselves. But we should never, never allow a foreign court to impose damages awards and thus taxes on us.

Don't lose the spirit of 1776.