It is a great honor for me to speak to you today. To be perfectly frank, I don't have any idea what I am doing talking to Taiwan's assembled political scientists. I am a political scientist by training, but I confess that I gave up my membership in the American Political Science Association a long time ago. I have the deepest respect for work that all of you have done to understand this island's political system, how it has evolved and how it works or doesn't work. In my own research and writing, I have borrowed extensively from the findings of many of you. So there is some question whether there is anything new I can tell you this morning. My only excuse is that Professor Liao asked me to give your keynote address and I usually do what she asks.