Beginning 40 years ago, the same efforts were made under the guise of fighting the drug war. Then 15-20 years ago, it became clear that that boogeyman wasn't sc

Beginning 40 years ago, the same efforts were made under the guise of fighting the drug war. Then 15-20 years ago, it became clear that that boogeyman wasn't scary enough, so the messaging slowly shifted to terrorism and then children. Those two together seem to have been the key to shifting public opinion. The terrorism threats started as racist fear mongering before shifting to highlighting threats from internal nationalist groups. This combination gives every political leaning something to fear and someone to demonize.