Silence is Surrender

There is no liberty without the freedom to speak truth to power

Jun 04, 2026

King George I, ruler of Great Britain and Ireland, 1714 - 1727.

King George I, a German prince from the House of Hanover who inherited the British throne in 1714, was a greedy, vindictive, and narcissistic ruler who even imprisoned his own wife for 32 years until her death.

Six years into the king’s reign, public outrage swept the nation as the British economy crashed from a speculative bubble in which George and his royal court were heavily implicated. His royal mistresses and ministers had accepted bribes and engaged in insider stock trades (yes, there were stock markets back then), enriching themselves as their “subjects,” the common people, suffered severe financial harm.

During the crisis, British journalists John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon published a series of 144 political essays, demanding justice for those who caused the crash. They wrote under the pseudonym of “Cato,” a nod to Cato the Younger (Marcus Porcius Cato), the Roman statesman who gave his life in 46 BC resisting the tyranny of Julius Caesar.

The “Cato Letters” warned of the inherent danger of unchecked government power and, most importantly, the absolute necessity of free speech to preserve individual liberties. Governments rarely steal liberty overnight through sudden force, they argued, but rather, trick citizens into surrendering it gradually through manufactured crises, appealing lies, and political manipulation.

“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of the nation must begin by subduing the freedom of speech.” ~ Cato’s Letter No 15

In response, the British rulers condemned the authors of the Cato Letters as malicious liars, fraudsters, and purveyors of “false news.”

Our Founding Fathers, especially Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, were deeply influenced by the Cato Letters.

At age 16, Franklin used the pseudonym "Silence Dogood" to quote Cato’s Letter No. 15 in his brother's newspaper, popularizing the phrase: “Without freedom of thought, there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty, without freedom of speech.”

Jefferson incorporated Cato’s core arguments on liberty, limited government, and the danger of tyranny, writing that a free press is the ultimate bulwark against corrupt government power.

Thus, freedom of speech would be enshrined in the First Amendment as the cornerstone of American democracy and essential to the survival of our newly formed nation.

The firing of 60 Minutes’ iconic broadcast journalist Scott Pelley this week after he spoke out against the pro-Trump bias of new management has set off alarm bells across the nation.

As the nation’s top news program for 52 consecutive years, 60 Minutes has consistently spoken truth to power, and outraged Donald Trump with reports on the January 6 insurrection, the president’s false claims of rigged elections, his endless lies and conspiracy theories, aggression towards Greenland, betrayal of Ukraine, kowtowing to Putin, relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, sending immigrants to El Salvador’s notorious CCOT prison, illegal tariffs, the war on Iran, and the compromising of Congress and the Department of Justice.

Pelley is not alone. Numerous other top journalists and key staff at CBS’s flagship news broadcasts, 60 Minutes, have also been fired or forced out. Pelley responded to his ouster, writing, “For my part, new management has instructed me to inject falsehoods and bias into a politically sensitive story. The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well.”

This is but the latest, and most highly visible move by Trump and his oligarchs to deconstruct free speech in America, silence all critics, and twist the public narrative in support of the regime. Public broadcasting, major newspapers, and regional broadcast stations have already come under fire, with CNN next in the crosshairs pending a pro-Trump corporate merger.

From Stalin to Hitler, Mao and Mussolini, Orbán to Bolsonaro and Trump, tyrants throughout history have known full well that an informed public will never tolerate their corruption. Therefore, free speech must be crushed so that disinformation and deception can rule the day.

YET AS OUR FOUNDING FATHERS KNEW ALL TOO WELL, IF WE ALLOW OURSELVES TO BE SILENCED, OUR LIBERTY IS LOST

Courageous journalists continue to report the facts despite the threats and intimidation of the administration and MAGA zealots.

Concerned citizens continue to gather in protest against massive for-profit detention camps in their communities, push back against authoritarianism, and organize efforts to get out the vote and protect election integrity.

The No Kings/Indivisible movement has facilitated the largest protests in American history, with millions taking to the streets to condemn Trump’s attempts to turn America into an authoritarian state.

Speaking truth to power, protesting peacefully, and exercising our right to vote, even in the face of grave adversity, have always been essential for the preservation of our freedoms, so that, as Abraham Lincoln noted in the Gettysburg Address, “a government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from this earth.”

Postscript:

As President Trump plans to spend hundreds of thousands of our tax dollars to celebrate his 80th birthday on June 14, complete with cage fighting at the White House, the Committee for the First Amendment, partnered with No Kings and Indivisible, is organizing a counter event, Rise up and Sing Out, to celebrate the Constitutional freedoms that belong to all of us: The freedoms of speech, press, assembly, protest, and full expression.

RISE UP AND SING OUT: A CONCERT FOR THE FIRST AMENDMENT