It’s my understanding that ActBlue has been around for 11 years. According to their website, “ActBlue is a non-profit, building fundraising technology for the left. Our mission is to democratize power and help small-dollar donors make their voices heard in a real way.”
It has been brought to light that ActBlue is currently facilitating donations for an effort in Massachusetts that OPPOSES marijuana legalization. How in the world does that fit with ActBlue’s mission statement? I think it’s very obvious that it doesn’t. As such, the organization Marijuana Majority has started a petition urging ActBlue to support progress, and not harmful marijuana prohibition. Prohibition is not progressive, and has ruined many lives. Below is more information about the petition, which can be signed at this link here (currently at 3,888 signatures):
Marijuana prohibition drives mass incarceration and worsens economic inequality, especially among black communities that are disproportionately targeted for arrests and punishment. A top Nixon advisor even admitted that the war on drugs was started to oppress people of color.
Marijuana prohibition has always been a war against progress. But now ActBlue, a group claiming to be a leading champion for progressive values, is playing a key role in continuing criminalization.
Massachusetts, like other states, will vote on legalization this November, and public support is strong. But ActBlue is working against progress in favor of the failed status quo by raising money for the campaign to defeat legalization in the Bay State.
ActBlue claims to support only progressive causes but, by collaborating with prohibitionists, they’re actively working against one of the most important progressive causes of our time.
Of course, not only people on the left support legalization. Conservatives like that it will restore respect for the law, and libertarians support individuals’ right to control what they put in their bodies. But the overwhelming majority of progressives want to see marijuana legalized, with the most recent poll in Massachusetts finding 64% of Democrats in favor of the initiative, and only 29% opposed. This 35-point lead makes it clear that progressives in the Bay State support marijuana reform.
Progressives and legalization supporters must unite to tell ActBlue to stop supporting prohibitionists. We should be working together to support legalization, not prolonging racist policies of criminalization.
Join us in telling ActBlue to support progress, not prohibition!
