Yielding Sovereignty

While we have been distracted by gay marriage becoming the law of the land, most of us have not given much thought to the massive yielding of national sovereignty represented by Trans Pacific Partnership. The U.S. Congress has given President Obama "Fast Track" authority to negotiate a trade agreement with the nations involved in the TPP. What is curious about how this came to be is that it took congressional Republicans to pass the laws giving President Obama the power to agree on a new trade treaty without the need for Congress to approve.

Another curiosity about the legislation related to the TPP is the secrecy that has surrounded it. Just as with Obama Care, it looks like the TPP legislation has to be passed before the public will be permitted to learn what it will do to us. Of course most people don't really care assuming that our government will only act in the best interest of its citizens. However, most realize at this point that Obama Care has not lived up to the promises of its promoters so we should expect Obama Trade to likewise be harmful. What other possible reason could there be for the intense secrecy?

On the surface, it would appear as though congressional Republicans supported TPP to facilitate more free trade which is good for all, right? But we are learning in dribs and drabs what is driving it and, as with Obama Care, it appears as though crony capitalism is at play here where major multi-national corporations are pushing for TPP to happen. True-free trade would accommodate the participation of any size company but huge corporations lobby for regulations as barriers to keep their smaller yet usually more innovative and nimble competitors from participating in the market.

The trend in this age is consolidation of powers and we are seeing that play out in huge corporations assimilating or crushing their competition with the help of governmental regulations they write themselves. This is not good for either the consumer or for workers. The era of too-big-to-fail companies reveals that our economy is closer to socialism than it is to true-free market capitalism. Once upon a time the government broke up monopolies but today we see the government sanctioning market oligarchies. As President Eisenhower warned about the "military-industrial complex," we should likewise beware the government-industrial complex.

While congressional Democrats are hardly immune from crony capitalism, in this case they opposed TPP fast-track legislation because their labor union constituents were obviously a bigger factor. The U.S. does not have a very good track record in preserving jobs with our trade agreements. Since labor unions are major donors to congressional Democrats, they had no choice but to oppose the TPP. It is pretty obvious to all that the TPP will cause the U.S. to lose jobs because Trade Adjustment Assistance providing benefits to U.S. workers effected by international trade was part of the TPP fast-track legislation. Apparently multi-national cooperation is more important than U.S. jobs.

It also appears as though the TPP is about more than just trade. Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) told Congress that the TPP, "says it’s designed to promote the international movement of people, services and products; basically the same language used to start the European Union." The European Union is the classic modern model of nations giving up their national sovereignty to a multinational central authority and it involves more than just trade. It looks like the world's ruling elite are now ready to expand the EU model to other parts of the world. The fact that the European Union is not working so well as demonstrated by Greece is beside the point, progress is only seen in nations yielding their sovereignty in the interests of working together. How else will we be able to realize the peace on earth that the nations seek after?

The Bible tells us that the peace the nations manage to work out for themselves in the time-frame of the Lord's return is a false peace. "For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape" (1 Thessalonians 5:3, NKJV). There will not be peace between the nations until the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ returns to rule. Human efforts to organize peace between nations apart from God will fail miserably. As Pax Romana was oppressive, Pax Romana Renatus (revived) will be even more terrible.

The Bible says that the nations of the earth will be governed by ten rulers just prior to establishing the global government of the Antichrist. "The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast" (Revelation 17: 12-13, NKJV). Since Congress has given President Obama power to be an active participant in the TPP, he is no-doubt a candidate to lead it. Given the phase of history we are in, it is likely that President Obama will be one of the ten kings of Revelation 17.

Even though it seems like every day the news has yet another disturbing development, Christians can draw strength from the certain knowledge that our Lord will come for His Bride before the consequences of mankind's rebellion fully metastasizes. In the meantime, we see people every day who have not experienced the love of Christ in their lives. We should be fervently praying for those we know who need Jesus in their lives and do what we can to help them see the love of God before it is too late.