And there was no serious fear through the 70s that the US would be invaded.

As to 'fear mongering' today - when 300 million people watch the two largest building in the country destroyed on live TV by people who were previously considered at worst an annoyance it creates an atmosphere.

"at no time in the Cold War" - were you absent for the period between 1950 and 1970? I remember being taught to get under my desk 'when the atomic bombs fall' We played at the local Nike site and were told how many Russian ICBMs were pointed at it. Building fall-out shelters was an industry ( with how-tos in Popular Science ) and people read "On the Beach" and "Fail-Safe" and didn't shrug with post-modern irony.

I realize the reality of islamofascism is very inconvenient for some political agendas and worldviews that are predicated on 'multi-culturalism' and liberal guilt, but the fact remains that there is a particular nihilistic death cult which at the moment is dedicating itself to doing as much damage as possible to what we think of as civilization.

Do you seriously dispute that?

>>>
>>>Isolationism is not the answer, as tempting as it seems sometimes. The U.S.'s isolationism between the two World Wars is viewed by historians as a key factor in both the Depression and the rise of Nazi Germany.
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>>Threats change. The major threats to the US through the 1970s wore uniforms.
>
>No, not really. And before you go off on the Soviet Bloc, etc, etc, ad nauseum...let me point out that at NO time during the 70's was the US ever in danger of being invaded. And even at the height of the Cold War, the public was never barraged with the fear-mongering that is going on now.
>
>I'm just sorry so many have bought into it lock, stock and 2 smoking barrels