Edited sentence: Another component of the "National Myth" is the idea of the external threat.In many ways the neocon appropriation of the values of the religious right was a risky strategy in a supposedly secular country, but it was a gambit which paid off, mobilising a formerly politically inactive demographic in the eighties.Neoconservatism also relies heavily on the doctrinal establishment of what might be referred to as a "National Myth", the idea that a country may be strengthened by adopting an over-riding mythos which unifies the people and, by extension, discourages dissent.This has been acheived, by the neoconservatives, first with the threat from the former Soviet Union and, after an abortive attempt to use an internal threat from the anti-federalist sections of the extreme right, from Islamic militants in the middle east.This theory of "National Myth" is a key and primary building block in the formation and development of neoconservative political dogma while the idea of "External Threat" is one of the most powerful legislative tools ever brought into play on the world political stage