The posters for the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, Question 4 on this year's ballot, carry the slogan, "You decide!"

The promise is that by passing strict limitations on state and local government spending and requiring a referendum for every tax increase or a spending hike that exceeds a combination of inflation plus population growth, Mainers would be given more say in how their state is governed.

But really, the opposite is true.

Passing TABOR would take away the ability of our representative government to function, and give a mathematical formula more power than the collective will of the people, as expressed through the election of their representatives. That's why we urge a 'no' vote on Question 4.

If you live in Maine, you already decide. You decide who sits in the governor's office and who represents you in the Legislature. If you don't like what they are doing, you can go to the polls on Election Day and vote for someone else.

Supporters of TABOR are generally unhappy with the results of recent elections, which have given one party control the legislative and executive branches of government for the last eight years, and they disapprove of the quality of the decisions that have come out of Augusta.

They have a case to make, but the time to make it is in next year's elections, when the governor and legislators are on the ballot, not this year.

TABOR is an attempt to put state spending on auto-pilot. The budget would be essentially frozen at its current recessionary level, and then its growth would be strictly limited.

Since the cost of things the government buys, like health care and education, can increase faster than the consumer goods tracked by federal inflation figures, the formula would force lawmakers to cut, regardless of the state's needs, unless they could get voters' approval to spend more in a referendum.

TABOR supporters say that part of the law gives the government all the flexibility it needs to respond to circumstances. This sounds good, but government by referendum is not a fair swap for a representative democracy.

It's not that voters can't be trusted to make the right choices, but there are some government programs that are always popular, like schools, and some that never are, like jails.

You need both. Elected representatives brought together in one spot have a better chance of weighing one expense against another than do voters at the polls, one issue at a time.

If government services wind up being too costly or don't work in the end, whose fault is that? Certainly not elected officials, whose actions are controlled by a formula. It's hard to hold anyone accountable when they aren't in charge.

Maine voters should use the authority they already have to steer government action. They should vote "no" on Question 4.