Social Justice - Tracy Westen

The Democracy Network changed all that. First, Westen and members of his team listened to the debate live and copied down all of the questions that were asked. Then they emailed those questions to the 13 candidates who hadn't been allowed to participate in the debate. Within a few hours, Westen had responses from those excluded candidates posted on the Web site. By the next morning, almost all of the frontrunners had posted rebuttals of their own. Then democracy broke out, and the debate took on a life of its own. The debate expanded from the original 9 issues to 35 issues, covering everything from the environment to community-oriented policing to the media's coverage of violence.

"DNet's technology has the capability of bringing everyone into the debate, not just the frontrunners," says Westen. "I think that's significant, not because the others are necessarily going to win -- although occasionally they will -- but because they will perform their true role, which is to push the debate."

And, says Westen, more debate means more substantive discussion of the issues. And that gives voters more and better information to help them make smarter choices at the ballot box. "We're not only getting greater breadth, we're also getting greater depth," says Westen. "We're finding issues that would never be addressed in any other medium. For instance, what are the chances of a candidate asking about funding for the arts during a televised debate?"

But expanding and deepening the debate is only one way in which the Democracy Network empowers its users. Voters can also use the Web site to do an easy side-by-side comparison of candidates' positions on a particular issue. Take education, for example. If voters want to compare two candidates' positions on that issue, they need only go to the issue grid and read the candidates' statements or the text of the full debate. A few years ago, when Westen and his staff tried to do the same comparison by phone, the process took three weeks. Today, thanks to the Democracy Network, anyone can do it in a matter of minutes. "There are a number of reasons why people don't participate in politics," Westen says. "But I don't think that it's because they're uninterested. I think that it's because they can't do it efficiently."

DNet offers more than ease of use. Through hotlinks to briefing papers and background materials on major issues, the Web site also provides context. Users can find out where the candidates' campaign financing comes from, check out their biographies, and read statements from their endorsers.

Over time, the site will also become a historical record with lasting significance. Instead of disappearing into the telesphere, candidates' past positions will remain online. "Let's say that you're trying to make up your mind about an election in the year 2004," Westen says, "and a candidate makes a statement about what to do about drugs or crime. As we build up our history, you'll be able to go back and read what that candidate said in 1998, or in 2000."

The idea is to engage more people in the political process by making democracy as user-friendly as online chat, or as e-commerce. And the more people get involved in that process through the Democracy Network, says Westen, the more substantive the process will become. "You can put together TV commercials that are all image and no substance, and they work because people will retain that image in their mind," says Westen. "But when a voter spends time going through the Democracy Network, finding the race, looking at the candidates, picking an issue, they've already gone three or four clicks, and they don't want empty promises or vague generalities. That puts pressure on candidates to respond in a new way."

The Democracy Network will also change the economics of campaigning, lowering the financial barriers to entry for candidates who may wish to run, but who don't have huge war chests. But, Westen recognizes, the site will only succeed if people use it. And to that end, he is trying to get it in front of as many eyeballs as possible. He has already negotiated a deal with AOL, which has agreed to put DNet up as a featured site, and discussions are under way with some of the Web's other megaportals for similar advantageous treatment. And like any CEO of a Web site, Westen understands that speed is critical. "It's important that we get in and do this right," Westen says, "and keep the costs very low -- because otherwise someone else will get in and raise the cost." And if a commercial site beats him to the punch, then the entire set of problems that plague conventional politics will simply migrate to the Web with candidates forced to raise more money to buy a presence on the Internet. "This is a preemptive entry by a public-interest organization, trying to keep excessively commercial outfits out," Westen explains.