Finally, I must take note of a relevant aspect of the American political process. I would argue that despite all the strengths of this nation, we are increasingly fragmented; our political process makes it difficult to come to grips with complex issues. Divergent and fragmented interests have so many different sources of leverage in the formulation of policy that it will continue to be very hard, especially on contentious issues such as IPRs, to reach agreement and to implement those policies consistently in the international arena. I believe that we are not in a good position to handle this aspect of our role.

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