The realization that globalization is a force that can be acted upon changed American foreign policy completely.

By encouraging globalization, America achieves three important goals: it reduces barriers to trade, increasing its wealth; it exposes other nations to its world view via entertainment media, increasing its prominence; and it encourages the trade of ideas both to and from itself, increasing its pool of knowledge and culture, as well as spreading the ideals of democracy and free speech upon which it was founded. These three things have characterized American foreign policy since the Cold War ended, and to an extent were weapons in the anti-Communist arsenal during the Cold War. The business of America is business. This was true before President Coolidge said it, and it is still true today. While the concept of a national corporation has become archaic in the last few decades thanks to the advent of international business identities, America is still the largest center of commerce in the world, and it benefits greatly by reducing trade barriers between itself and as many nations as possible. Despite its trade deficit, the United States is the largest national economy in the world, with its only real competitor for overall size being the entire European Union. This only grows the less barriers to trade there are, enriching the American populace even when its government is in debt.

Partially affected by this, but not dependant upon it, is the spread of American culture, especially by Hollywood, television and video games. Even though they often display an extreme and distorted form of America and its culture, they are internationally consumed and appreciated, with foreign contributions being literally consigned to a secondary category. This spread of culture often takes a very strong hold in other nations, and is leading towards a global culture that exists beyond the lines of nations and states. This is particularly exemplified in the internet, which has a meritocratic culture and society free of borders and involuntary group association that is very heavily based on American ideals, particularly individualism, but which has absorbed parts of other cultures as it has deemed them useful, and even generated new phenomena of its own - in particular, things such as the Creative Commons and

open source movement. By encouraging globalization, America encourages the spread of its own beliefs to nations which have traditional values very different than its own, creating a very strong support for democracy and meritocracy internationally, and increasing Americas prominence in global affairs. Touched on slightly by its export of media is the free flow of ideas across borders. America stands or falls on the basis of ideas and knowledge, both militarily and economically. It needs to import as many good ideas as possible, and also benefits from exporting its technical expertise. By encouraging globalization, it does this. It creates an international culture of discourse, which America uses to its benefit, especially as exemplified by the upcoming MMOWGLI program run by the Navy. It also sends out ideas such as freedom of speech and the individual ability to succeed. Spreading these ideals helps strengthen Americas image in the minds of others around the world, which in turn gives America a stronger position in international relations.

For all these reasons and more, America has, with few exceptions, tended to embrace globalization in its foreign policy decisions. Its generally accepted key points of interest - economics, defense, and spreading democracy and a common belief in human rights - all benefit from globalization as well as increasing globalization themselves. In a way, it could be argued that American foreign policy and globalization are very nearly one and the same, for while globalization benefits everyone to a degree, no one benefits quite as much as the United States.