It is easy enough to pick on politicians -- and I certainly have done so, many more times than once.

But we need to remember that they are human beings as well. Pause for a moment to consider the kinds of pressures our elected leaders in Lansing have to withstand during these tough times.

Most of them -- like most of us, have kids and spouses that need and deserve their time and attention. They have the kinds of worries - financial, career, personal - that afflict every one of us.

But unlike us, they're in the Capitol, the pressure cooker of our troubled state, facing an extra set of burdens and responsibilities.

Sure, they volunteered for this duty, but it's tough duty nevertheless. They are paid better than most of their colleagues in other states -- $79,500 a year -- but most could do better elsewhere.

They expect to have their performance criticized. But it's deeply unfair to make it personal, to assault their characters.

New York Times columnist David Brooks, one of the most thoughtful and insightful folks around, detailed just why in a recent column: "In our democracy, lawmakers are compelled to spend their days maneuvering for trivial advantages that nobody will remember by dinnertime...

"In our democracy, top officials lead frantic, overscheduled lives, with almost no time alone and with major decisions made by instinct during rushed limo rides from one forgettable event to another. They spend their days talking, and pretty soon they become human jukeboxes - their snippets of conversation are just chunks of oft-repeated material they have retrieved from the stump speech audio collection in their heads...

"Our democracy, at least as it has evolved, takes individuals who are reasonable in private and it churns them through a public process that is almost tailor-made to undermine their virtues.

"The process of perpetually kissing up to the voters destroys the leadership qualities the voters are looking for in the first place: tranquility of spirit, independence of mind, and a sensitivity to the contours and complexity of reality."

Amen!

We need to keep all thatin mind, as we take a moment to consider in greater detail the pressures that face our governor and everyone else we've elected, especially the legislature:

The fact is that Michigan is in terrible trouble. Our economy stinks. Our state budget is awash in red ink, and big decisions about how to plug the holes have to be made within just a few months. Those decisions will have enormous consequences.

The very future of our Michigan is up for grabs, as it never has been before.

We can become "Michissippi," with, yes, low taxes -- and poorly paid workers, a lousy education system, few state services and crummy economic prospects . . . plus cold weather.

Or we can restructure our government, cut unnecessary spending, reform our tax system and find the revenue we need. The money we need, that is, to fund an investment program in our durable, distinctive competitive assets like our universities, our "North Coast" environment and the skills and brains of our people.

The special interests (what organization, after all, is not a special interest?) are already aroused and shouting. They are stirring up citizen unease about a two percent sales tax on services. The anti-taxers-no-matter-what are threatening recall campaigns.

The din grows, the pressure rises. And our public officials are plunk in the middle of the pressure cooker.

Meanwhile, in our state capital, in private, everyone acknowledges how complicated and how serious the choices are.

Our public officials know full well that we are approaching a defining moment in Michigan's future. Most want to do the right thing, but many are reluctant to make the hard decisions if it means they risk defeat the next time around.

What's needed is leadership --and the task of leadership is to find ways to put aside narrow partisanship and construct those small spaces in which lawmakers have some freedom of choice.

Freedom, that is, to do what they know is right.

What would make that a lot easier for our elected officials to do their work would be if the public is given a chance to be heard from.

By this I do NOT mean public opinion polls. Here's how America Speaks, a non-profit organization promoting citizen involvement, puts it,

"Unfortunately, polling is woefully inadequate for building a healthy democracy. Polls provide decision-makers with aggregate data about citizens' opinions, but do nothing to identify or help build a collective view upon which decision makers can reasonably act.

"They survey opinions without providing any way for people to learn or to be challenged. In the end, a public that has no opportunity to deeply engage with an issue (and only registers its opinions in snap judgments made to pollsters) will always be a ripe target for manipulation and influence."

Right now, when our future as a state is teetering in the balance, we desperately need civic education and public engagement. After all, it's our Michigan, and our elected officials have a responsibility to consider carefully our thoughts and feelings, just as we have an obligation to be well informed.

There are lots of ways to do this. Reading the newspapers or surfing the web. Going to town hall meetings. Writing to our elected Representatives and Senators in Lansing. Talking and telling - in coffee shops, malls, anywhere - of our hopes and fears for our Michigan and saying what we wish would happen to allow our children and grandchildren to continue to live here, in our home state. That's truly the democratic process, as the Founding Fathers saw it. Now as then, it is a process whose time has come. Join it.

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Phil Power is a longtime observer of politics, economics and education issues in Michigan, and was a regent of the University of Michigan from 1987 to 1999. He is also president and founder of The Center for Michigan, a moderate think-and-do tank. These opinions and others expressed in his columns are his own and do not in any way represent official policy positions of The Center for Michigan. Phil would be pleased to hear from readers at ppower@hcnnet.com Phil Power is a longtime observer of politics, economics and education issues in Michigan.