This is a crucial moment for the progressive movement in America. But if we want to make real, lasting changes in the American way of life, we need to make some fundamental changes in how our democracy works. That means much-needed election reform; fighting the corrosive power of corporate money; and fixing the United States Senate.

2012 was a banner year for progressives. We brought racial profiling and the death penalty back into the national conversation. Marriage equality made great strides, with four states legalizing same-sex marriage or failing to make it unconstitutional. Despite attempts at voter suppression and an ailing voting infrastructure, a diverse electorate loudly rejected the anti-worker, anti-immigrant, anti-equality agenda offered by an increasingly radical right wing.

But last week's sneak attack on organized labor in Michigan reminded us that the enemies of democracy are still very much empowered and in power. The same groups that funded voter suppression again flexed their financial muscle to cripple worker's rights at their core. If we become complacent now, we risk losing all we have gained this year and more.

This month, the NAACP and other groups convened a diverse meeting of some of the leading progressive minds of our generation. We agreed to focus on three crucial areas moving forward to fix our political system.

First, we must protect voting rights and also expand them. Last year, more states passed more laws pushing more voters out of the ballot box than any time since the Jim Crow era. We used to see people break the law to block the vote; now, they are using the law to block the vote. Next year, the NAACP and our allies will keep a vigilant watch over any state-level plans to cut early voting or introduce restrictive voter ID laws.

Meanwhile, we should remember that the best defense is often a good offense. Now is the time for true election reform. Voter registration should be as universal and as secure as selective service, and no one should be discouraged from voting by long lines that wrap around the local elementary school. We should also end the useless process of felony disenfranchisement, so that those who have done their time can rejoin their communities with all the rights and responsibilities of American citizenship.

The flipside of voter disenfranchisement is the super-enfranchised corporations who distort our elections. The US supreme court's troubling decision in Citizens United opened the floodgates for unprecedented corporate spending in the 2012 elections.

But the problem goes beyond presidential politics. We saw in Michigan how the Koch brothers-owned Americans for Prosperity spread their anti-worker agenda as part of a larger plan to destroy unions in this country. We cannot allow elections to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, or let big businesses serve as the sole agenda-setters for state government.

Finally, abuse of the Senate's filibuster rule has made it even more difficult to address major challenges on the federal level. Harry Reid has served as Senate majority leader for about as long as Lyndon Johnson, but Johnson saw one filibuster on his watch, while Reid has struggled through over 350. With our archaic filibuster rules, senators no longer need to stand at the podium and pontificate as they did in the film Mr Smith Goes to Washington.

These days, a senator can block democracy while enjoying a cocktail in the cloak room. We need filibuster reform that encourages transparency and discourages cowardice.

We have every reason to believe that the 21st century can be the greatest century yet for the struggle to advance civil and human rights. We can increase job creation and decrease discrimination. We can increase graduations and decrease mass incarceration. We can tackle climate change for our planet and end the climate of violence in our communities.

We just need to fix the fundamentals of our democracy first.