IT was Thomas Jefferson who said democracy was nothing more than mob rule where 51% of the people could take away the rights of the other 49%.
But when it comes to the Green Party convention next Saturday, perhaps Jesse Jackson's pronouncement that "in politics, an organised minority is a political majority" is more relevant.

It's not stretching matters to say that next Saturday the votes of as few as 130 Green members could dictate the future of the entire country and its four million-plus inhabitants.

If 33.34% of the 400-600 Green members likely to attend the convention in Dublin's RDS on Saturday reject the new programme for government, the Greens will pull out of the coalition and the government will inevitably fall, resulting in an immediate general election.

Forget Jefferson's 51%, that's 0.0037% of the people controlling the future for the remaining 99.9963%.

Even those who are desperate to see a new government in place would be hard-pressed to make an argument that this is a good example of democracy in action.

The ramifications for the country of the Greens voting down the programme for government would be enormous.

Because the Dáil would be dissolved, Nama would fall and, unless the new Fine Gael and Labour coalition decided to adopt the legislation lock, stock and barrel, it could be well into next year before any new measures are introduced to prop up the banking sector.

The new government would hardly be in a position to bring in a budget on the first Wednesday in December. Nature, it is said, abhors a vacuum and so, very definitely, do the financial markets. They are likely to take a dim view of the fall of Nama and the short-term political uncertainty, so the cost of the Irish state borrowing money on the international markets would be expected to rise sharply.

Of course, if the incoming government quickly demonstrated that it had the mettle to deal with the €20bn hole in the public finances and developed a credible plan for the banking sector, this would be a short-term phenomenon. But it doesn't dilute the question as to whether so much should be riding on the votes of such a small group of people.

The argument has been made that there is little unusual about minority political interests holding sway. In a coalition government, smaller parties, which have attracted as little as 4% of the vote in a general election, have major influence over decisions made. What is democratic, after all, about a party with four or six TDs setting the policy direction of a government?

There is, of course, merit in this argument. But at least, however small the number, you are talking about elected TDs.

Next Saturday, it is possible that fewer than 200 people, who haven't been elected to any public office, could dictate the political agenda for the entire nation.

By any standards that it a ludicrous state of affairs. There is much to commend about the Green Party, not least the fact that, unlike the other political parties, it does not simply pay lip service to including its members in the decision-making process. Green members tend to be highly committed, public-spirited and well-meaning individuals who hold strong views about the betterment of society.

But next Saturday's Green Party vote on staying in government is so democratic that it is perversely undemocratic – the fate of the coalition hingeing on the whims of a couple of hundred citizens.

There is a case to be made for the membership having a veto on whether the party should enter into government at the beginning of a new Dáil, as happened two years ago when 86% of members backed the Greens going into coalition with Fianna Fáil and the PDs. But the idea that this veto needs to be renewed halfway through the term of the government is crazy.

Every time an opinion poll comes out showing the government with record low ratings, arguments that there should be a general election are quite legitimately rejected by the government on the grounds that they have been given a mandate to govern by the electorate, which was reflected in the Dáil vote endorsing the new government. However, because of the archaic Green Party rules, that mandate of millions of voters is now conditional on the two-thirds – a simple majority is not sufficient – support from Green party members.

The likelihood is that common sense will prevail next weekend. If the Greens were to precipitate a general election there is a very real chance that none of its six TDs would be returned. Green Party members are principled but they are not stupid and they know that the only chance they have of implementing their agenda is by being in government.

Assuming the Greens can secure some concessions in the new programme for government, the high level of trust that remains among the membership in John Gormley and Eamon Ryan should mean they will carry the day.

But it shouldn't have come to this. Regardless of what parties make up a coalition, governments cannot be driven from the back seat, particularly during an economic crisis. For the sake of democracy, the Greens need to make their rules a little less democratic.

scoleman@tribune.ie