What do you call an environmentalist who doesn't necessarily recycle, reduce or reuse?
What if this person wasn't fighting to save the planet's environment but a nation's political environment?
Philip Barrett is this kind of environmentalist. As campus coordinator for the nonpartisan Democracy Matters chapter at the University of Denver, he said that he aims to eliminate the private campaign money that "pollutes the democratic process."
Barrett's stand for democracy makes him one of the most visible student activists on campus, giving the opportunity to students to learn more about what "clean elections" are.
According to Barrett, a clean election is one funded solely by public money. Private donations from special interest groups, corporations or privileged individuals, would not be part of the process.
This public financing would ensure that politicians are held accountable to the people and not a minority of wealthy elites, Barrett said.
"I'm shooting for a perfect democracy," he said, adding that a publicly funded election process, where everyday Americans have a tangible investment in those running, "is the epitome of democracy."
But Barrett hasn't always taken a nonpartisan view in America's political environment. He says his involvement in politics began when he campaigned for the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.
"I was going door to door before I could even vote," he said.
What he saw in 2004, and says he continues to see today, though, is politicians acting in the interests of their biggest donors.
According to OpenSecrets.org, a campaign finance database of the Center for Responsive Politics, the biggest industries donating to congressional campaigns deal in law, real estate, health, entertainment, oil and gas and defense.
In working with Democracy Matters, Barrett has learned that the influence this money engenders seems to bring government farther from everyday people.
Barrett also points out that public financing is an alternative that candidates can opt-into, like Sen. John McCain for his presidential campaign. But, "the system is broken," he said, adding that McCain has previously accepted private donations and also used methods to rely less fully on public financing.
To curb this practice, Barrett is getting students involved. He organizes and supplies informational tables about campaign money and voter's rights. His efforts are being noticed.
"It's really rewarding talking to students and learning that they care," he said. At his chapter's first meeting, "one guy was really getting into it," he continued, adding that they were able to come up with some great ideas to round out this election season.
While Barrett isn't recycling or reusing in the classic environmental context, he's fighting to reduce pollution in American democracy.
"Clean elections is really the most important election issue," he said. In his eyes, it touches all other issues and how politicians decide on issues of health, human rights, energy and the economy.
"It's not liberal change or conservative change," he said, "it's like the motto of Democracy Matters: 'change elections, change America.'"
Zach Braff, star of TV's "Scrubs" and the film "Garden State," came to campus Saturday to rally the early vote for Barack Obama with about 100 students.
