The U.S. Senate Approves Fast-Track for Pacific Trade Deal: Overstating the General Will

The way the world works is not in itself reason enough to dismiss the possibility of an ideal being more fully realized, and to refuse to take practical steps to its realization. Horse-trading is a staple in politics. The expression “making sausage” is typically used to refer to political horse-trading because people generally do not know—nor do they want to know—how sausage gets made; and it is probably best that way, at least according to the politicians. I propose that we “get under the hood” anyway, because only then can we ask ourselves whether political horse-trading is overused; a better way may be possible and even practical under some conditions. The way in which the U.S. Senate passed "fast-track" status for the proposed Pacific trade agreement provides a useful case study.

The full essay is at “The U.S. Senate Approves Fast-Track for Pacific Trade Deal.”

See also: "The U.S. Senate in Disarray."