Still, nothing unites every faction of the right more than opposition to the idea that foreign courts or governments have authority over Americans. To the fury of pretty much everyone on the right, the liberal justices on the Supreme Court increasingly cite the popular opinions, laws and judicial rulings of foreign countries in support of their interpretations of American law on such issues as the death penalty and homosexual rights.

Virtually all conservatives and libertarians believe popular opinion in America should be irrelevant to the court's interpretation of the Constitution. So the suggestion that our courts should give a fig about the opinions of Jamaicans or Germans makes us flick off the safety catches on our muskets.

The upshot of all this is that globalization is a fact of life. The issue isn't whether it's good or bad - globalization just is. Saying you're for it or against it is like saying you're for or against gravity. That's interesting but who cares?

The relevant argument is what you want to do about it. I can tell you what kind of globalization someone prefers simply by asking what they think about America and the United Nations. If they think the former is a problem and the latter is a solution, they lean to the left on globalization. If they think it's the other way around, they lean to the right. Indeed, in common usage, anti-globalization is often just another term for anti-Americanism.

And in a way, that makes perfect sense. Despite what you may have heard to the contrary, the United States has always been an engine of globalization. Our founding documents speak to the universal rights of mankind. Our culture - high and low - is a stew of influences from around the world. Our economy and our armies have led the way in pulling huge segments of humanity out of the twin yokes of poverty and tyranny.

No, we haven't done a perfect job, but that's always been an unfair standard. The question is whether you think someone or something - like the U.N. - could do a better job. And how you answer that question answers a lot of other questions as well.