Republican Domination of State Legislatures

It's been fifty years since Freedom Summer 1964  when hundreds of northern college students descended on Mississippi to register black voters despite diehard resistance in the state. 

We need a similar movement in 2014 to fight the injustices of our time,  such as the Republican domination of state legislatures across the country.

The Republican Party has sought to turn back the clock in state government since gaining the majority in the 2010 elections.   For instance,  in  North Carolina,  Florida,  Georgia,  Pennsylvania,  Texas, and  Wisconsin,  the Grand Old Party has not only cut aid to public education to the bone but denied needy citizens access to Medicaid as authorized by the Affordable Care Act. Meanwhile,  public pensions have been severely slashed or eliminated by Republican-controlled legislatures,  with unions virtually outlawed.  And what's worse,  Republican leaders have introduced Jim Crow-style voter I.D. laws at the local level and have even vowed to circumvent early voting despite record voter turnouts in 2008 and 2012.

Across the country, voters have demonstrated nonstop against the G.O.P.'s harsh reforms. For example,  concerned citizens in North Carolina have organized Moral Monday, a day when defiant residents storm the state house in opposition to the G.O.P. stronghold.  Similar protests have been planned for Georgia later this year. And in Wisconsin,  public employees and everyday Wisconsinites protested around the clock in 2011 following severe budget cuts by Republicans,  which eventually led to a special election to recall the state's Republican governor.  However,  such protests desperately need the assistance of outsiders to be successful.

Without a sound or overriding voice in the state or local government,  Democrats and independents will continue to suffer setbacks at the hands of one-sided Republicans.  Pivotal legislation regarding voting,  education,  healthcare,  and even racial profiling takes place in the states,  which calls for a seismic shift in the balance of power at the polls in 2014.