ABSTRACT
Into the twenty-first century, in 2015 and into a second Obama term, little has been done, or said, to fundamentally alter the nature of the American worldview. This is partially because most Americans themselves have not changed, however much their political leadership staggers from crisis to crisis, from interventionism to neoisolationism, and from uncertainty to outright confusion. The Global War on Terrorism, into its fourteenth operational year, has already lasted longer than the Civil War and has surpassed the length of American combat in each of the world wars and the Korean War. Spending on the Iraqi occupation alone averaged $12 billion each month and exceeded spending levels for the Korean War. The beginnings of the modern Islamic assault against western outposts can be traced to 1983, when 241 American servicemen, including 221 Marines, were killed in their barracks in Beirut, Lebanon.
