I wasn't expecting a golden example of my comment on leftists rewriting history to fit their own preconceptions to pop up so quickly, but by golly Lindy came through:

We just HAD to hate them "commies" and their "system". They were EVIL. How else could the cold war have been so profitable?

Almost 100 million dead in Communist nations, not counting deaths related to wars. I have no idea where Lindy's threshold for the term "evil" is.

We had nothing to fear from the Russian populace as they are as weak and powerless (and as hungry) as the American people.

However, certain members of our own government were concerned about the "space race" and the fact that the "ruskies/commies" would get the jump on us for nuclear weapons and there-in set the fear and the hate.

We needed to put a LABEL on our fear and thus have a REASON to jump start our "defense" industry with all it's bloated infrastructure and perks for retired political and military analysts and investors. The old hand greasing, back slapping, hand-shaking at the good ole American corporate pig trough.

Taxpayers, we can't thank you enough.

The Soviet Union was just a weak, pathetic, harmless entity, driven solely by imperialist America to arm themselves to the teeth at the expense of almost every other aspect of their society. I would love to see Lindy present this thesis to anyone who escaped from Eastern Europe over the past fifty years.

Geez, I couldn't have written it better as a parody.