America's goose that lays the golden eggs

America's research and development institutions have long been the envy of our competitors, flourishing at the top of global rankings.

But our state-of-the-art innovation capabilities – responsible for bringing COVID-19 vaccines and countless other breakthroughs to market – haven't flourished here by happenstance. They have been nurtured over decades of smart policies, and those policies are now at risk.

Current misguided efforts are unwittingly pushing the very ecosystem that lays our golden eggs of innovation toward the brink of downfall.

For the better part of the 20th century, patents on A...