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You might imagine, oh Canadians, that you live in a land of peace, plenty and security. If you’re a student of history or economics or both, you might say to yourself of an evening, lounging dockside (it’s summer in this fantasy, indulge me), dipping your toes in the lake and listening to the loons, that we are among the luckiest 35 million people of all time.

You might imagine all this, but you’d be wrong. For Canada is, in fact, a land of fear. It’s like the old ad for dishwashing soap: We’re soaking in it.

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We are terrified, for starters, of the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham — that agglomeration of death-worshipping sociopaths who have taken over parts of what used to be Iraq and Syria, a beachhead from which they now threaten to invade the boot of Italy and topple the Roman empire, never mind that Caesar has been gone, lo these past 2,059 years.

Despite the psychological edge conferred on ISIS militants by illiteracy, innumeracy, zealotry and plain old stupidity, they really are not able to defeat the combined militaries of the whole world, led by the U.S. Air Force, which owns the sky and space. Yet here we are, locked in a stalemate, a token war in which Canada is participating with half-a-dozen old fighter jets, transport planes and a single company of soldiers. If the threat to our nation were pervasive, we’d have more invested — no disrespect to the Canadians serving valiantly over there now. But the fear certainly feels pervasive.