Editor's Note: Kurt Schlichter submitted his weekly column just hours before his prediction that A&E would fold came true.

In 2014, let’s resolve to preserve some semblance of freedom in our culture and respond to the next blitzkriegs by the progressive fascists with an unequivocal “Go to hell.”

Demanding that Americans hide their religious beliefs. Banning dissenting views on the climate change scam. Slandering people with charges of the kind of racism pioneered and perfected by the Democrat party.

Those are just some highlights of the concerted campaign by the goose-stepping freaks of the left to silence us, to shut us down and leave the culture open to their domination. But the organized left is only a small cadre of sociopaths – its strength comes from the apathy and cowardice of those who won’t stand up to them. They win only when we surrender.

But we won’t surrender.

The tide is turning. Who would have thought that a bunch of guys who look like ZZ Top would be the harbingers of a cultural backlash? Look for A&E to fold once it realizes the Duck Dynasty gang doesn’t need it, that the backwoods rebels can take their act to any number of new venues – cable, online, on demand. Hey A&E, you can’t be a gatekeeper when technology has torn down the walls.

Maybe A&E can run a reality show about LGBT fanatics, crazed feminists and militant atheists and their adventures being outraged that some people have different views. They can call it Dictatorship Dynasty. Better yet, they can drop the last three syllables of the first word.

Wait, is this the part of the column where I am supposed to distance myself from the views of Phil Robertson or Alec Baldwin or whoever the thought criminal du jour is? No, because defending free thought is unrelated to the underlying thought. No, because leftists thrive on driving off defenders of free thought by attempting to link them to the underlying thought. No, because to even address the accusations of the leftist witchfinders is to credit these punks with the moral standing to raise moral objections. Progressives have no moral standing. None – they sprung from the same roots as their brothers in collectivism, the fascists, and when they speak of morality it sounds like Charlie Brown’s teacher.

I want to make it clear that I am not calling liberals fascists. There’s a big difference. A fascist would invade Poland. A liberal would just whine about Poland being homophobic and try to get it fired.

This campaign is not being pushed by “gays” any more than other campaigns are pushed by “minorities” or “women” or “climate scientists” or whoever else is the day’s designated oppressee. They are pushed by leftists to achieve progressive ends. Leftists care nothing about gay people, or minorities, or women, or global warming. They care about their own power.

Remember, everything progressives tell you about protecting “free speech” and “diversity” is a lie. They don’t want free speech or diversity. They want a plodding, creepy conformity of thought – their thought. Free speech and diversity were useful to them before they gained cultural power; now that they have it, these quaint ideas are liabilities that must be stamped out before someone normal exercises them.

For too long, we have sat back and let these jerks try to dictate what we think, what we feel and what we say. But that’s over. We’re done. Just ask Cracker Barrel.

The liberal assault on free thought isn’t a sign of its success. It’s a sign of its utter failure, a desperation move that is inevitable in any collectivist movement. Climate scammers aren’t trying to silence dissenters because they think the “deniers’” evidence is unconvincing; just the opposite. At some point, progressivism’s failure is just too clear, too undeniable even with its coterie of mainstream media flacks trying to cover it up.

Liberalism’s end game is spiritual and moral emptiness paired with economic despair. Welcome to America as it enters 2014.

As with all collectivist pathologies, liberalism must turn to oppression because it cannot win the argument. Like the Obamacare website, hitting the figurative link to liberalism returns a massive 404 error. It can’t succeed on its own merits, so it must claw and grasp at power by crushing all opposition.

We’re not going to be crushed. Instead, we’re going to fight.

We’re not going to stand for corporate cowards squelching the free exchange of ideas. The L.A. Times, which used to be a newspaper, barred “climate change deniers” from its op-ed pages. That’ its right. It’s perfectly within A&E’s legal rights to fire Phil Robertson – this is not a First Amendment issue – but if companies choose to take sides in the culture war against us, then they better be up for our counter-attack. Cowardice has a price – and we’re going to ensure they pay it.

Here, A&E, let me help you and the next company caught up in a situation where someone expresses his views under your auspices:

“At A&E, we support the right of every human being to express his views freely. Phil Robertson is capable of discussing and debating his ideas, and we are confident that those who disagree with him will be able to do so using the same rights Phil exercises.”

Done. Finished. That’s all A&E needed to do. And that’s all the next company needs to do. Once a company refuses to give in to blackmail the whole sordid scheme of unofficial oppression falls apart.

As conservatives, we need to show companies that if they choose the side of cultural conformity then they have chosen against us. If they do, they’ll pay. In our viewing, our purchasing, and in our everyday lives, we need to stand up against the silencing of dissent liberalism requires to survive.

That includes when it happens to people we don’t like. While turnabout is fair play, and karma can be fun, noted liberal Alec Baldwin should not have been fired. Noted liberal Martin Bashir should not have been fired. Noted liberal Paula Deen should not have been fired. They should have been criticized, mocked, and debated.

Remember, we don’t need to silence our opposition – empirical evidence demonstrates the meritlessness of leftist ideology. Liberals need to silence us because we’re right and they’re wrong.

They want a cultural war, and I say let them have it. We’re fighting for a vibrant, free culture with a multitude of religious expressions, with a plethora of ideas and a refusal to hide truth so as to not offend some vocal component of the leftist coalition. They demand a mindless, fearful conformity with everyone paying homage to the same pagan liberal idols.

To hell with that.