“The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace” is, according to Sun Tzu, “the jewel of the kingdom.”

Michiganders are retreating more than advancing lately: losing more money to Lansing politicians’ boundless greed, paying more for an onslaught of reckless energy mandates, suffering the sacrifice of children’s educations for the benefit of school unions, and finally, as our flat-to-negative migration numbers indicate, deciding to leave the state entirely.

Total U. S. population grew about four times faster than Michigan’s over the last four decades, and our new barrage of leftist policies is not turning the Great Lake State into a people magnet.

Things won’t turn around without serious work. These pages tell how the Mackinac Center is winning small battles, making big government pay a price for its victories, and laying the groundwork for the time when friends of liberty regain the initiative.

Our most important fight centers on your precious right to keep your own property. Thanks to a 2015 law, state taxpayers received a $700 million reduction in their personal income tax in 2023. This happened when record-smashing state government revenue soared so high above the inflation-adjusted trigger that the law’s automatic tax cut kicked in.

It was one of the few bright spots in the era of the Democratic trifecta, but even this modest reduction in tax collections was too much for the Whitmer administration, which is fighting relentlessly to clutch back every penny, permanently.

We’re standing up to the governor, and for taxpayers, at the Michigan Supreme Court, representing legislators, citizens and business associations. You can read about our case in Pat Wright and Steve Delie’s story.

Even if we don’t win today, we’re shaping the ground of future battles. Derk Wilcox explains how an unfavorable ruling from the Michigan Court of Appeals in our prevailing wage case nevertheless relied on the major questions doctrine, an originalist constitutional approach that The New York Times calls “the doctrine that threatens Biden’s agenda.”

We’re also taking back the initiative. Delie and Mike Van Beek lay out our plans for transparency and education, respectively.

Our FOIA coalition helped craft two state Senate bills that would strengthen the state’s Freedom of Information Act and turn 2024 into a year of government transparency in Michigan. And as new laws designed to enrich school unions take effect, we are contacting every school board member in the state to help them put children first during contract negotiations.

You need great people to do great things. Some great people making news are Tony Daunt, who brings decades of policy experience to his new job as senior director of our multi-state Workers For Opportunity project. New Director of Advancement Nicole Beck tells how she embraced her role at our donor Legacy Society. Jennifer Majorana has risen quickly to become our senior director of advancement.

With your help, we will keep defending the people of Michigan against overweening government. And when these tough times are behind us, I look forward to seeing how great we can make Michigan.