We Coloradans are slightly schizophrenic about politics and power. When we face nagging traffic jams on our way to work every morning, we want government to fix the problem. But we balk when it comes to giving our political leaders the power to actually do something about it. We love the initiative process and have used it extensively to tie the hands of governments, creating a political and financial tangle that 4 million Coloradans, acting individually in the voting booth, can't manage. Then we tell government to unsnarl the mess.

Over the years, we've taken away the power of elected officials to levy taxes, manage school finance, run an efficient civil service, even determine when we can hunt bears. We banned the Olympics, decided not to fund highways with a budget surplus, and then turned around and agreed to finance them by borrowing money and paying a lot more for the privilege. We've told elected officials they can only serve 8 years and then wonder why there's no leadership.

To be honest, I've voted for many of the initiatives citizens have put on the ballot. Others, I deplore because I think they gum up the works of government. Some Coloradans think that is a bonus; I don't. Yet, I've been glad to have the opportunity to take action when our political leadership has refused to behave like the leaders they're elected to be and make the tough decisions they're chosen to make. This year, for example, I like most of the initiatives on the ballot.

What really bothers me is that so many of the initiatives deal with problems the Governor and Legislature should tackle and solve. They get on the ballot because either a divided Legislature can't drum up a two-thirds vote to support a referendum or because they simply don't want to get their hands dirty. Well, that's why we elect people to represent us. And, that's what we should be looking for when we make our voting decisions this year.

Colorado is a state that never trusted government. Our Constitution is full of checks and balances to make sure no one grabs too much power. We are a "weak governor" state, where the Legislature has much more power than the Governor. But, in the past, we've had governors, from John Love to Dick Lamm and Roy Romer, who used their renown and their bully pulpit to provide a vision for the state and to solve problems. In the past, we've had legislative leaders from both parties who have worked across the aisle to tackle everything from budget crises to natural disasters. Former Republican Speaker of the House, Bev Bledsoe, was as partisan as they come, but no one would ever have accused him of not providing leadership nor of refusing to work with Democrats when there was a difficult problem to solve.

Today, that just isn't happening. The state's fiscal mess, thanks to an initiative gone awry and a foolhardy tax cut 5 years ago, has ballooned into a full-fledged crisis. In this case, the Legislature at least talked about how to solve the problem, but had no leadership from the Governor's office to keep them moving forward.

Why do we suffer from such political lethargy? Where is the political courage to step up and lead when the need is so clear? To a certain extent, we, the voters, have only ourselves to blame. Nevertheless, we elect people to lead, not to hand off the tough decisions to us. So, perhaps it's time for us to give back a little power. For example, maybe we should let elected officials make some taxing decisions, within tightly drawn limits. And, maybe we should tell them, once we elect them, to make the hard choices, negotiate the difficult solutions, focus on the intractable problems-and not always leave it up to us. We can do that with our votes.

I'd like to see this happen. Meanwhile, in true Colorado fashion, I'm voting on all those initiatives, but, also, I hope, to elect real political leaders.