In our constitutional republic, the people are to be the source of governmental power. Our democracy depends on a government that is "of the people, by the people, and for the people." The TPP repudiates all of that, providing that its terms  even as to matters vital to the health, safety and welfare of the people  will be the last word, regardless of what our elected representatives, and even our courts, decide. The TPP, with its own supreme tribunal, will be the ultimate arbiter, the public interest, including civil and human rights, be damned.