By Roberto Kampfner
Assistant Business Manager
Bryce Verket, a sophomore at Mira Costa, has decided to get some justice on his own by joining a national organization dedicated to rooting out corruption in one of America’s largest political parties. Verket has joined a new organization that is dedicated to making some big changes in America’s political system, starting with the politicians.
The organization which he has joined, named the Justice Democrats, wants to reform the Democratic Party candidates. It has many outlets across the nation, and has already spread its influence throughout America. It has endorsed some candidates for the new election cycle, and donors have raised close to a million dollars.
“In this organization you can provide basic contact information to sign up, and once you reach eighteen you can donate money to the them,” Verket said, “It is a non-profit and all money goes to the funding for campaigns, and you can nominate people for public office if they meet a certain criteria.”
According to Verket, the platform of the organization has a wide base and touches on a lot of pressing issues in today’s political landscape, but has one key goal in mind: purifying the candidates the Democratic Party puts forward for nomination.
“The platform is based on having pure candidates for office that fit a certain criteria,” Verket said. “[Candidates] who will actually fight for people’s rights and that seemed really appealing to me.”
Verket has recently begun to get his news from more sources than the typical large news outlets like CNN and Fox News. This includes many YouTube channels, of which some have advocated for this new organization dedicated to destroying corruption in the Democratic party.
“I subscribe to several online news outlets and one of the founders of these news outlets co-founded the Justice Democrats,” Verket said. “[He] has made many videos about the organization describing its platform, which really interests me.”
Visit the Justice Democrats homepage for more information:
Verket himself is involved in the Justice Democrats by authoring several letters to various congressmen in California to get behind certain bills that the Democratic Party platform supports and wants to pass. He is adamant that the organization can and will make a difference.
“I’m not eighteen yet, so I can’t donate, but I have helped the organization in other ways,” Verket said. “There is a bill in the House of Representatives that helps implement single payer healthcare nationwide, but not everyone in the Democratic Party supports it. [Justice Democrats] puts out a list of every member of the party who doesn’t support it, and asks members to write letters to their representatives to support it.”
According to Verket, the Justice Democrats have picked up many followers recently, and he is hoping more people, especially at Mira Costa, look into it and decide for themselves whether or not it is something that interests them. The movement has already picked up. The organization has 250,000 members, 1800 candidates nominated, 40,000 donors and about 1 million raised in campaign contributions as of April 2017, and it has a promising future.
“I’ve sent letters to eight different congressional representatives from California asking them to get behind the bill,” Verket said. “It’s a way of advocating for the organization without being able to donate to it, and I’ll keep doing it.”
Click here to see the list of all candidates for office supported by the Justice Democrats:
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