Photo by Pakkin Leung. CC BY 4.0.
The liberty we enjoy today isn’t guaranteed — it must be actively defended, especially when silence seems safer. Today I want to put on your radar the story of Jimmy Lai, a Hong Kong media tycoon who was repeatedly jailed and ultimately found guilty of “subversive activities” by the Chinese Communist regime simply for speaking out against tyranny. Lai could have fled to freedom, but he chose to stay and speak; now, authorities want to make an example of him. Stories like his remind us that free expression is fragile.
As one commentator said in explaining Lai’s conviction, China’s message is chilling: “even a man of extraordinary achievement, wealth, international attention, and moral courage can be ground down when he refuses to bow.” This harsh reality should both humble and alert Americans — reminding us how blessed we are not to live under such tyranny, and how important it is to keep it that way.
Unfortunately, this threat is not entirely foreign to the West. A new report from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) documented a record number of free-speech violations on U.S. college campuses in 2025. In many cases, administrators and government officials have threatened to cut funding unless schools silence students they find “uncomfortable” or controversial. The message to students has become: it’s safer to stay quiet than speak your conscience. That’s a grim lesson: if the safest course is to keep quiet, liberty is already eroding.
This legal harassment isn’t just confined to college campuses. Long legal battles like the Colorado case against Christian baker Jack Phillips were meant to deter others from expressing convictions openly. In the United Kingdom, pro-life advocate Isabel Vaughan-Spruce has been jailed just for silently praying near an abortion clinic.
This cultural conflict between freedom and conformity is perhaps the central challenge of our age. Our test in America will be whether we stand and defend the principles of free society or trade them away for convenience and comfort. The lesson for us is clear: dangerous courage is better than silent safety, and we must stand for truth, even when it costs us greatly.
On college campuses and social media, in board rooms and the public square, conservative voices are being silenced. What happened to free speech? The First Amendment? At PhyllisSchlafly.com, we’re still listening! So let us hear from you at PhyllisSchlafly.com. Thanks for listening and join us next time for the Phyllis Schlafly Report.
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