Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1993. [Vol. 1.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 21)

STUDIES - András Tamóc: The Politics of a Cast-Iron Man. John C. Calhoun and His Views on Government.

completely counteract the tendency of government to oppression and abuse has thus far exceeded human wisdom and possibly ever will".

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6 Constitutions are based on suffrage, the power of the vote. Voting leads to popular sovereignty, making the ruler responsible to the ruled. Since the power of the ballot box effects a transfer of authority, removing it from the leaders and depositing it with the people, suffrage provides a guarantee against tyranny. While voting leads to popular sovereignty, by itself it is insufficient to stop tyranny. It has an other, less beneficial effect. Voting can unleash a fierce struggle for the control of government and divide society in two antagonistic parts, a majority and a minority. The hostilities between these two groups are based on a lack of equality. Each society produces a section that possesses a greater portion of the wealth and influence. Governmental policies, such as taxation, not only promote but institutionalize inequality. Tax collection creates two classes: tax consumers enjoying the fruit of tax payers' labor and tax producers financing public policies. Elections yield two types of political preponderance: numerical and concurrent majorities. A numerical, or absolute majority emerges solely through voting results. The whole community is viewed as one and suffrage is equated with unanimous consent. When government is dominated by such a group that is representative of all competing interests, a concurrent, or constitutional majority is formed. A constitutional democracy has two requirements: presence of a concurrent majority and the separation of powers. The numerical majority is not the true representative of the people, it is only a reflection of one section of the popular will. The concurrent majority acts as a counterbalance against absolute majorities. A constitutional government is based on a negative power, the people's ability to resist abuse of authority. Examples of negative power include the Roman tribunal system, the British parliamentary structure and the threepronged plan of the federal administration. Calhoun, however, found neither of these sufficient to maintain American democracy. He created a new bulwark for constitutional 2

6 Ibid., p. 22. 101