Everyone has - or should have - a vision for Michigan the way they would like it to be. How would you like to share yours - and maybe win a prize that could include a college scholarship, a vacation at one of our nicest resorts, or a shopping spree?

I've been writing a lot recently about a forthcoming citizen engagement campaign, Michigan's Defining Moment. The goal is to bring thousands of Michigan citizens and leaders together in "community conversations" to grapple with some of the pressing economic and political problems we face - problems, quite frankly, that our political leaders have utterly failed to resolve.

Our problems are serious. The base of our economy - the auto industry and the United Auto Workers union - is struggling to survive. Our state's budgeting, legislative and political systems are broken.

Taken together, we're facing the biggest crisis since the Great Depression, truly a "defining moment" for Michigan.

What we can't allow this campaign to become, however, is the usual fog of "policy wonks" blathering at other government junkies.

That would make for a sterile, emotionless discussion that is totally disconnected from the lives and minds of "normal" people.

Well, we aren't doing that. And that's why an important part of the Michigan's Defining Moment campaign is something called "EnvisionMichigan." It's an invitation for anybody to share their vision for Michigan. What's your vision for our state?

What kind of Michigan would keep your grandchildren here ... or bring your children back from Chicago?

And, most importantly ... how do we get there?

We want you to tell us. You can tell your Michigan story in words, in photos, or online audio/video stories. And Envision Michigan is offering more than $30,000 in prizes, including college scholarships, vacations to top Michigan resorts and weekly Meijer shopping sprees. Just go to www.thecenterformichigan.net to enter.

Here's a sample, submitted by Bill and Nancy Woods, from Kalamazoo, together with a lovely photo of their dog, Ginger, in a snowy scene at Kalamazoo College's Lillian Anderson Arboretum.

"Michigan inspires wonder with its mixture of woodland and prairie, lakes and streams, cities and villages. Our hope is that we can join together in common pursuit of prosperity while preserving our natural resources. Those resources should be considered an integral part of economic planning, not only for the tourist industry, but also as part of what attracts employers and workers to our state. "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you!"

Submissions like this will help set the tone for the community conversations that will take place all over Michigan in the next two months. Once we've shared our visions for Michigan, it will be easier to discuss how we can find common ground to get there.

But there's a larger dimension to all this, as well. Here's what lay beneath the chaotic, frustrating and embarrassing spectacle that we saw acted out in Lansing a couple weeks ago: Basically, it was the inability of members of the legislature to come to a clear, common vision of the kind of Michigan they wanted to help create.

Lacking a common vision, they were unable to develop - much less agree on - a rigorously focused and disciplined plan to tax and spend the right amounts needed to achieve our goals.

What we got instead was an unfocused and expensive outcome: An increase in the income tax, plus a 6 percent sales tax on a bewildering and seemingly unrelated set of activities from palm reading to coin-operated blood pressure testing.

That, and - oh yes - a pledge to cut "$435 million in state spending," over the next 30 days. Is this a rigorously focused and disciplined taxing and spending plan?

We know better. If, for example, our lawmakers had agreed with Bill and Nancy Woods that the beauties of our natural resources and our environment are a vital part of our plan for prosperity, they would have made sure there was plenty of money in the budget for the Department of Natural Resources to do its job.

But that didn't happen, and the DNR will almost certainly get its budget cut yet again. What if our lawmakers had agreed that a clear vision of Michigan's future meant we need our universities to attract talented people from around the world? People, that is, who can help companies develop laboratory inventions into commercial products.

That vision alone ought to have been enough to spur the legislature into voting a special appropriation for our universities, reversing years of scandalous disinvestments. But the sad truth is that Michigan colleges and universities will be lucky just to get back the money withheld from their appropriations last year.

They aren't slated to get a dime of additional money, not even to keep pace with inflation - which means that in reality, we are cutting higher education once again.

Now, you have a chance to have your say about this, The Michigan's Defining Moment campaign offers a way for citizens to come together, develop a shared vision of what they want our state to look like - and then, to derive from that focused and disciplined policy and spending plans. Plans, that is, which allocate budget money to what's important and weeds out what's not. To learn more and reserve a seat at a conversation near you, go to www.thecenterformichigan.net.

Former newspaper publisher and University of Michigan Regent Phil Power is a longtime observer of Michigan politics and economics. He is also the founder and president of The Center for Michigan, a centrist think-and-do tank. The opinions expressed here are Power's own and do not represent the official views of The Center. Power welcomes your comments at ppower@thecenterformichigan.net.