Democratic government is about making choices. Sometimes those choices involve the distribution of benefits. This work examines the repercussions of unpopular government decisions in Canada and the USA, the two great democratic nations of North America.

Democratic government is about making choices. Sometimes those choices involve the distribution of benefits. At other times they involve the imposition of some type of loss-a program cut, increased taxes, or new regulatory standards. Citizens will resist such impositions if they can, or will try to punish governments at election time. The dynamics of loss imposition are therefore a universal-if unpleasant-element of democratic governance.