See also Michael Geist's TPP presentation at CIGI:
It's a shame that we rely so heavily on trade with the US, that we feel that we need to look past the so called "lobbying" and corruption in US politics, and implement such overbearing rules on behalf of Hollywood and others.
The stuff about the US putting Canada on "probation" and mandating that every 6 months Canada has to report back to the US "as if it was some kind of naughty student to the teacher" is just ridiculous.
This has to stop.
There is a 38 degreess page for TTIP [1].
Protesters against TTIP were being labelled as anti-American in the debate in parliament the in December[2], which I find ironic, as the movement against TTIP, TPP etc all started In America.
Another argument used was that nobody had opposed CETA in the same way TTIP so, again must be us being scared of America - I would again put it down to opposition to these treaties starting in America + thi jumpstarting opposition in the UK.
[1] https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/pages/ttip_home
[2] http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmhansrd/c...
Had the UK not signed on to the Bush administration's war, 2003 might have gone differently; Blair's alliance with Bush was a key "legitimizing" force.
My point, relevant to this thread, is that I don't think the UK is somehow coerced by US market power. The UK sees its best interests as mostly aligned with those of the US, which is not surprising when you compare the structure of our respective economies (for instance: London is the other Wall Street).
There are countries in the world with a reasonable claim against market-driven hegemony. The United Kingdom isn't one of them.
The same can be said about many nations. We should all contact our representatives regardless. However, the last time I did this, one of my supposed reps sent me a condescending form letter in response. She wasn't even gracious enough to lie to me and say she valued feedback from her constituents. It came across more like she knew better than I did and that's why she was voting against the interests of the people.