“We fight for the forgotten.”

My friend Charles Mitchell of the Commonwealth Foundation used this wonderful phrase during his remarks at a dinner in September. How true, and how necessary.

The Mackinac Center also fights for the men and women who encounter harmful policy or overzealous regulators.

The taxpayer whose income taxes go up because of a concerted effort by state officials to kill off a long-overdue tax cut.

Children who are condemned to schools that fail to teach them how to read.

Small business owners who struggle to get by while they watch the state give away billions to politically powerful and well-connected companies.

The fourth-generation restaurant owners who must close a business that’s nearly 100 years old because of the uncertainties of labor costs and inflation.

The waitress whose take-home pay will go down because of policy changes that affect her tips.

The single mother in Detroit whose electric bill keeps going up.

The man returning to society from prison who is trying to set his life straight, if only he can find a job.

Employees and patients of the medical center that was closed during the state’s aggressive lockdowns.

The hairdresser who was criminally charged for cutting hair during the same lockdowns.

Parents of disabled children who discovered they had been unionized without a choice by a law that allowed a union to skim off the public aid intended for their children.

The mother whose school board reported her to the U.S. Department of Justice because she dared complain about its failures to educate her special-needs child.

The mother who asked to see a school’s curriculum, only to be stonewalled for months.

Families who want to use an education savings account to enroll their children in a private school, only to be barred by the state constitution.

Medical professionals who must jump through an additional regulatory hoop of implicit bias training.

The young man in Saginaw barred from pursuing his dream of becoming a massage therapist because of costly licensing requirements.

The entrepreneur charged with a misdemeanor by city officials because he rented out his house on Airbnb.

The bed-and-breakfast owner who was forced to pay fees for marketing services that he did not need and that brought little benefit to his inn.

The 24-year-old kindergarten teacher who tried to leave her union, only to have union officials threaten to ruin her credit.

The members of a Detroit family whose rental property was seized by Wayne County after they unknowingly underpaid their property tax bill by less than $150.

A high-performing charter school in Detroit whose expansion plans were blocked by the local school district.

The young couple who hoped to fund college tuition for their children by renting out a house, only to discover crippling rental regulations proposed in Lansing.

These are real people who need our help. If you and I don’t fight for them, who will?