Social Justice - Tracy Westen

Always do whatever you can to shape the way that events are moving. When we did public-service announcements, our goal was to open up a wedge into paid media for consumer-oriented advertising. Back then, advertising was available only to those who could pay for it. We felt that there ought to be a right of access for consumers and public-interest groups as well. And in an indirect way, the argument that we launched made it all the way to the Supreme Court (CBS v. FCC, 1973).

The most significant new ideas often come from the interstices of two fields.

People out in right field or in left field are often completely locked into their own mind-sets and worldviews -- which is why so few good ideas come from people with hardened mind-sets. The strength for us at the Democracy Network is that we're not Web designers. Instead, we're trying to blend what we know about politics with what we know about communications.

Everything worth doing has to have a positive social benefit.

Otherwise, why do it? Back in the 1970s, I worked out in principle the idea of a comedy channel. I knew that it could make a lot of money. But once I began to think about it, I realized that I'd rather spend my time on things that have a positive social benefit.

The most important changes are structural changes.

I spent time in Washington trying to implement some significant changes. I was blocked, and I began analyzing why. As I looked deeper, I saw that underlying most political decisions was a river of money. If you want to succeed, you have to address those underlying factors that tilt the playing field.