"Woke" culture has become so prominent in the American education system that it would not be surprising to learn that schools were replacing the once popular rhyme "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me" with "sticks and stones may break my bones but opinions I disagree with can make me feel unsafe so they must be silenced."

Take the case of 12-year-old Liam Morrison, a student at Nichols Middle School in Middleborough, Massachusetts. This March, Liam was told to change his shirt or be sent home. School staff are reported to have said his shirt targeted a "protected class." Liam says he was told his shirt was making some students feel unsafe. Did Liam's shirt advocate violence? No, Liam's shirt simply stated that there are only two genders.

A free society cannot exist where a substantial portion of its population demands and receives protection from exposure to opposing ideas. If the history of authoritarianism teaches us anything it is that those in positions of power are often willing to provide a frightened people with "security" as long as the people are willing to sacrifice their and their fellow citizens' liberty.

Fighting the woke agenda is therefore not, as some libertarians claim, a culture war distraction from the pursuit of liberty; instead, fighting the woke agenda is crucial to restoring a free society. Of course, this means working to roll back government power by, for example, shutting down the unconstitutional Department of Education and getting Congress to pass legislation forbidding government officials from telling social media companies to censor certain American citizens. We must also resist joining those misguided conservatives who are calling on the right to seek to use government power to impose a right-wing version of wokeness on the American people.