Hal,
Without addressing your specific position on the issue of the Soviet threat, or the opposing view, you'll have to do more than claim "well, I lived during ________, so I know more about it than you do" to be taken seriously.
Coexistence does not necessarily grant knowledge or understanding in any measure. You no doubt know more than anyone how you felt during those times, and probably have a pretty good idea about how those around you felt, but simply living in those times does not give you any sort of insight any more than living today grants you insight into the whys, wherefores and what-ifs of today's political and national maneuvering. In fact, living during events can lead people to ignore facts learned afterwards where said facts conflict with the view they held during the events in question.
Now, it is entirely possible that you have first-hand knowledge that cannot be found in any book or notebook or report, and you may well know as much about the subject as any person living, but if you do you can cite your experience better than "I read those newspapers the day they came out instead of fourty years later, which means I know what they say better than you."
As to the point of this thread, I don't believe any nation has the right to exist through slavery. If there is a true threat to the continuation of the United States, people will volunteer to place their bodies between danger and their homeland. If they don't, then the nation will reap every bit of what it deserves.
Resorting to enslaving young men and sending them off to unwillingly put their lives on the line is not a moral way of saving a country.
