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b'Just over a month ago, the story of two lawmakers\\xa0expelled from the Tennessee legislature\\xa0captured headlines across the country. Their offense wasn\\u2019t corruption or criminal activity\\u2014instead, they had joined a protest at the statehouse in favor of gun control, shortly after the\\xa0Nashville shooting\\xa0at a Christian school. Earlier this week, Representative Zooey Zephyr, of Montana, was barred from the House chamber after making a speech against a trans health-care ban. In the past few years, in Arizona, Wisconsin, and North Carolina, legislatures have worked to strip powers from state officials who happen to be Democrats in order to put those powers in Republican hands. Jacob Grumbach, a political-science professor and the author of \\u201cLaboratories Against Democracy,\\u201d talks about how state politics\\xa0 has become nationalized. \\u201cIf you\\u2019re a politician, and you\\u2019re trying to rise in the ranks from the local or state level in your party,\\u201d he notes, \\u201cyour best bet is to join the national culture wars\\u201d\\u2014even at the expense of constituents\\u2019 real concerns.'