It's no secret to anyone in our great state, except those in government in Lansing, that Michigan is facing unprecedented economic and state government budgetary woes.

These tough times demand tough actions and decisions that Lansing refuses to make.

The people are crying out for someone who is going to lead them and take them out of this mess, and what's government doing? Governor Jennifer Granholm is more concerned about surviving the next year and getting her heir apparent, Lieutenant Governor John Cherry, elected.

Instead of addressing the challenges that plague Michigan, the Granholm-Cherry administration and entrenched interests are refusing to make the decisions that will turnaround our great state.

Lansing continues to rehash Republican and Democrat talking points that have been used time and time again. If you took the dates out of newspaper reports from 1980s, you would think they were from today's news.

Not only are the talking points the same, but the policy proposals are being repackaged. A good example is all the hyperbole over tax reform in recent weeks and months.

The governor is warning that the only solution to Michigan's woes is a constitutional amendment instituting a graduated income tax. This is the same argument that has been proposed and defeated each and every time it's been put before the people of this state at the ballot box.

A graduated income tax would put the nail in the coffin at a time when the casket is already being lowered into the ground by Lansing's inaction and inability to provide the leadership the people so desperately want and deserve.

While Lansing wasn't broken by just Democrats -- misguided Republicans were and are part of the problem -- the Granholm-Cherry administration must take responsibility for its decisions and indecisions over the past seven years.

As 2010 candidates for elective office start talking about navigating the ship of state, one cannot forget the incredibly daunting scale of the challenges facing the next governor and the next crop of legislators.

It's time for specifics on what exactly these candidates would do to address our great state's challenges.

Our next governor, working in partnership with legislators, must be willing to make the tough decisions that should have been made years ago.