1	John C. Calhoun's Disquisition on Government. Group theory is an important component of democratic political theory. The essence of group theory is that in the democratic process interest groups interact naturally and properly to produce public policy. In American political thought, the origins of this theory can be found in the theory of concurrent majority in John C. Calhoun's Disquisition on Government.
2	Concurrent Majorities It is very useful to discuss the operation of interest groups within the framework of what can best be described as a concurrent majority system. In contemporary usage the phrase concurrent majority means a system in which major government policy decisions must be approved by the dominant interest groups directly affected.
3	Calhoun on Concurrent Majority [It is necessary for true constitutional government to] prevent any one interest, or combination of interests, from using the powers of government to aggrandize itself at the expense of the others. [This can only be done by giving] to each division or interest, through its appropriate organ, either a concurrent voice in making and executing the laws, or a veto on their execution.
4	Each Interest Has Its Say It is only by such [a system of concurrent majority] that the assent of each can be made necessary to put the government in motion; or the power made effectual to arrest its action, when put in motion -- and it is only by the one or the other that the different interests, orders, classes, or portions, into which the community may be divided, can be protected, and all conflict and struggle between them prevented --by rendering it impossible to put or to keep it in action, without the concurrent consent of all.
5	Defects of Numerical Majority Rule It may be readily inferred, from what has been stated, that the effect of [a concurrent majority system] is neither to supersede nor diminish the importance of the right of suffrage; but to aid and perfect it. The object of the latter is, to collect the sense of the community. The more fully and perfectly it accomplishes this, the more fully and perfectly it fulfils its end. But the most it can do, of itself, is to collect the sense of the greater number; that is, of the stronger interests, or combination of interests; and to assume this to be the sense of the community.
6	Advantages of Concurrent Majority It is only when aided by a [a concurrent majority system], that [government] can collect the sense of the entire community-- of each and all its interests; of each, through its appropriate [group], and of the whole, through all of them united. [A concurrent majority is] truly be the sense of the entire community; for whatever diversity each interest might have within itself-- as all would have the same interest in reference to the action of the government, the individuals composing each would be fully and truly represented by its own [group] majority.
7	Numerical Majority System There are two different modes in which the sense of the community may be taken; one, simply by the right of suffrage, unaided; the other, by the right through a [concurrent majority]. Each collects the sense of the majority. But [the numerical majority] regards numbers only, and considers the whole community as a unit, having but one common interest throughout; and collects the sense of the greater number of the whole, as that of the community..
8	Only the Concurrent Majority Is The Constitutional Majority The [concurrent majority], on the contrary, regards interests as well as numbers--considering the community as made up of different and conflicting interests, as far as the action of the government is concerned; and takes the sense of each, through its majority or appropriate organ, and the united sense of all, as the sense of the entire community. The former of these I shall call the numerical, or absolute majority; and the latter, the concurrent, or constitutional majority. I call it the constitutional majority, because it is an essential element in every constitutional government — be its form what it may
9	Need to Understand Difference Between Concurrent and Numerical Majority So great is the difference, politically speaking, between the two majorities, that they cannot be confounded, without leading to great and fatal errors; and yet the distinction between them has been so entirely overlooked, that when the term majority is used in political discussions, it is applied exclusively to designate the numerical — as if there were no other.
10	Constitutional Government Until this distinction [between numerical and concurrent majority systems] is recognized, and better understood, there will continue to be great liability to error in properly constructing constitutional governments, especially of the popular form, and of preserving them when properly constructed. Until then, the latter will have a strong tendency to slide, first, into the government of the numerical majority, and, finally, into absolute government of some other form