Did you get to vote on the rules for the trading agreement we just signed with Japan? And since you didn't, how are they subject to the will of the British people?
This is one aspect of what we vote every five years for. Come on poop, at least try to think about it for longer than it takes to read.

Did we not send elected representatives to the EU? I seem to recall we did. We also had veto power over any important legislation. Now we have no power at all in Europe.
So you think choosing the lower members of a single-party system is democratic? Imagine if at the next election, you had a choice between Bob (Tories), Mary (Tories) and Ahmed (Tories). Hey, you're voting for it, it's democracy.

Another problem with this system is the only people who actually vote in Euro elections are those who support the EU. People like me didn't give a flying fuck. So you're not necessarily getting a fair representative that reflects the true will of the people. It means pro-Euro politicians are more likely to be involved. Of course, sometimes an anti-EU politician goes for it to gob off in their silly little Hague or whatever. Funny that Farage is the most famous of our European politicians. I can't name a single other one. Did Anne Widdecombe have a go at that?

You might think that we can opt out with a stroke of a pen, but most trade agreements are binding for some period of time, they don't just end when one side feels like it.

You generally don't just rip up a deal, because it's not a very good negotiating tactic, and therefore not in your best interests, but you can. and trade wars happen all the time. One is happening right now between USA and China. Different circumstances, of course, but all of these tariffs that are being slapped about, they can disappear overnight.

Both China and USA retain their sovereignty during this battle, since China is China's only authority, and USA is USA's only authority. That's what sovereignty means.

WTO terms are basically the worst trading arrangements that exist outside of outright anarchy. They are for countries who can't agree in any way not to fuck each other in the ass over trade.
And so provide a mutual incentive for good faith negotiation.

So a reason to leave the EU is that leaving it is a giant hassle. Gotcha.

Yes. Such a political integration is unacceptable. Leave as quickly as possible, problem solved.

Well, again, you can't just break an international deal any old time and suffer no consequences. I think that's the moral Boris is being taught here lately if you've been paying attention.

Of course there are consequences. Consequences are not a challenge to sovereignty.

...and we still don't. I mean technically we could have told the EU to fuck you while we were still a part of it and take the consequences the way we seem ready to do now.

Perhaps, but then again perhaps such an option was prohibitively expensive. The last serious challenge to our sovereignty before the EU was the Suez Crisis. We invaded Egypt with France, USA said "oi, don't do that", we said "what you gonna do about it", they said "economically fuck you up, bitches", we say "sorry our PM has had a nervous breakdown". The economic consequences of disobeying USA were so severe that it's fair to say we lacked true sovereignty. USA was our authority, in the literal sense. They were telling us what to do. Perhaps that is still the case, if so, and there's anything I can ever reasonably do about that challenge to our sovereignty, such as vote, then I'll do it. In the EU, I saw a challenge to our sovereignty, was given the opportunity to do something about it, and acted accordingly.

I guess the problem I have with this is that this 'sovereignty' is so expensive. It's not like we were wallowing in poverty as part of the world's largest trading bloc. So not clear why it's so important to people to be independent in our trade when it's going to be a giant kick in the balls economically.
It's not prohibitively expensive though. And, for all either of us know, it could be beneficial in the long run.

Tell me now how the EU exerts political control over the UK. Maybe I'll learn something.

How about you just read literally the first line of the wikipedia page for the EU. Something something "political and economic union".

I'll give you an example of political control from the EU in the UK... human rights. They are our authority on that matter. Even though their human rights is one of the few things worth praising the EU for, and a bill we should look to replicate post-Brexit (I think we intend to), it's an example of political control, and a challenge to sovereignty. There is also the illusion of international law, which you might argue is a challenge to sovereignty, but of course we ignore international law when it suits us, with no consequences. SO, hardly an authority.