Editing Trilateral Commission (section)

==Assessments==
Social critic and academic [[Noam Chomsky]] has criticized the commission as undemocratic, pointing to its key publication ''[[The Crisis of Democracy]]'', which describes the strong popular interest in politics during the 1970s as an "excess of democracy".<ref>{{cite book|title=Profit over people : neoliberalism and global order|last=Noam.|first=Chomsky|date=1999|publisher=Seven Stories Press|isbn=1888363827|edition=Seven Stories Press 1st|location=New York|oclc=39505718}}</ref> He has cited it as one of the most interesting and insightful books showing the modern democratic system not to really be a democracy at all, but controlled by elites who seek to keep the general public disengaged from genuine democratic participation by subtle and mostly non-violent methods and to redefine democracy itself in operative terms that enshrine their own interests as a tiny privileged minority. Chomsky adds that as it was an internal discussion, they felt free to "let their hair down" and to talk openly about the need for an increasingly active and defiant public to be reduced back to its proper state of apathy and obedience lest it continue to use democratic means to deprive them of their power.<ref>{{citation|last=Chomsky's Philosophy|title=Noam Chomsky - The Crisis of Democracy|date=2017-04-18|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2F9rKBYwIlA |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/2F9rKBYwIlA| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|access-date=2018-09-03}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Critics accuse the Commission of promoting a global consensus among the international ruling classes in order to manage international affairs in the interest of the financial and industrial elites under the Trilateral umbrella.<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBjMHTCQ7HA Cold Warriors: The Trilateral Commission] (Documentary). 1984.</ref><ref>“The Commission's Purpose, Structure, and Programs: In Its Own Words”. ''Trilateralism: The Trilateral Commission and Elite Planning for World Management''. Boston: [[South End Press]], 1980. {{ISBN|0-89608-103-6}}, {{ISBN|0-89608-104-4}}, {{OCLC|6958001}}. pp. 83-89.</ref>

In his 1980 book ''With No Apologies'', Republican Senator [[Barry Goldwater]] suggested that the discussion group was "a skillful, coordinated effort to seize control and consolidate the four centers of power: political, monetary, intellectual, and ecclesiastical... [in] the creation of a worldwide economic power superior to the political governments of the nation-states involved."<ref>[[Barry Goldwater|Goldwater, Barry]]. ''With No Apologies''. Co-authored with [[Stephen Shadegg]]. Berkley, 1980. {{ISBN|0-425-04663-X}} p. 299.</ref>