Rachel Maddow (Credit: MSNBC) Rachel Maddow: Democracy has been hijacked, children have been poisoned in Michigan "They flipped a switch," she said, "and the spigot they turned on poisoned the kids"

On Wednesday's edition of "The Rachel Maddow Show," host Rachel Maddow discussed the current state of emergency in Michigan, where the lead levels in the water were allowed to reach unhealthy levels.

In 2015, the city of Flint switched its water source from Lake Huron to the Flint River, which resulted in a significant increase in the lead levels in children. "This is the equivalent of being shot," Maddow said. "This isn't something that went bad over a long period of time. They flipped a switch, turned off one spigot last April and turn on a different spigot -- and the spigot they turned on poisoned the kids. The kids of Flint, Michigan have been poisoned."

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Maddow applauded local journalists for reporting on this story, making Governor Rick Snyder's administration's decision that there was an acceptable level of lead in the water a matter of national concern. Because Michigan is one of two states whose governors are not subject to the Freedom of Information Act, acquiring information about what Snyder knew and when he knew it has been exceeding difficult.

The only way to do so is through the United States Attorney's office -- which is precisely what journalists at the Flint Journal and MLive did, and found documentation that the concerns of citizens about the lead levels in the water were "blown off" by the state.

Watch the entire segment below via MSNBC.