California Patriot Profile: Victor Davis Hanson: America’s Watchman in a Cultural Storm

JON FLEISCHMAN // SO DOES IT MATTER?

Roots and Scholarship

Victor Davis Hanson was born in 1953 in Selma, California, where he spent his childhood among the working orchards of the San Joaquin Valley. This environment of hard work, rich soil, and deeply rooted traditions would profoundly influence his lifelong perspective on what makes America strong. Following his undergraduate studies in classics at UC Santa Cruz and doctoral work at Stanford, Hanson deliberately returned to California’s agricultural heartland, where he dedicated two decades to teaching Greek and Roman history at California State University, Fresno.

Hanson witnessed firsthand the decline of family farming, which provides much of the foundation for his cultural observations. His book Fields Without Dreams chronicles not merely the economic collapse of small agriculture but the devastating cultural consequences when bureaucratic policies destroy the backbone of rural America. For Hanson, this represents far more than market forces—it signals the unraveling of something essential to the American character.

Currently, Hanson holds the position of Martin and Illie Anderson Senior Fellow in Classics and Military History at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. From this platform, he applies lessons from ancient civilizations to diagnose what has gone wrong in modern America’s departure from its founding principles. His regular involvement with Hillsdale College, both as visiting professor and frequent speaker, reflects his admiration for institutions that maintain their commitment to constitutional education.

Through works such as Carnage and Culture and The Dying Citizen, Hanson draws extensively from Greek and Roman precedents to argue for Western civilization’s core elements: individual liberty, civic responsibility, and the earned nature of true citizenship.

Writing and Recognition

Hanson has found his voice through publications resisting contemporary journalism’s overwhelming leftward drift—outlets like National Review, The Daily Signal, The Wall Street Journal, and American Greatness. His writing stands out for its intellectual honesty and willingness to challenge elite assumptions while warning of the long-term dangers posed by cultural decay.

His observation in The Dying Citizen strikes at the heart of his concerns: “Sometimes citizens can do as much harm to their commonwealth by violating custom and tradition as by breaking laws.” This insight captures Hanson’s understanding that constitutional government depends not merely on legal frameworks, but on the character and habits of the people who sustain it.

Through The Victor Davis Hanson Show, which he co-hosts alongside Jack Fowler and Sami Winc, he combines current events analysis with historical perspective. Whether examining California’s regulatory disasters or assessing the international consequences of American weakness abroad, Hanson consistently draws from enduring principles and maintains an unapologetic love of country. His influence extends through social media, particularly his X account.

The Claremont Institute recognized Hanson’s contributions by presenting him with its distinguished Statesmanship Award, acknowledging his sustained intellectual leadership in defending Western civilization

Diagnosing the Decline

Perhaps no contemporary scholar has diagnosed America’s cultural deterioration with greater precision than Hanson. He observes progressive ideology systematically replacing merit with identity politics, long-standing traditions with abstract theory, and personal accountability with activist demands across institutions from universities to major corporations.

Hanson has consistently highlighted how weak immigration enforcement and the collapse of civic education threaten national unity. His book, Mexifornia, compares what occurs when successful assimilation—once a defining strength of American society—gets abandoned in favor of politics based on grievance and division.

Despite these concerns, Hanson maintains hope, particularly in institutions that resist prevailing currents. He points to Hillsdale College and the Hoover Institution as crucial refuges for rational discourse and moral clarity. He puts it, “The nation’s health depends on those who still believe in the Republic.”

Drawing inspiration from historians like Thucydides and observers like Tocqueville, Hanson argues that civilizational decline need not be inevitable, though the temptation toward decadence remains constant. “America, then, is only as good as the citizens of any era who choose to preserve and to nourish it for one more generation,” he writes in The Dying Citizen.

His recent commentary noted a troubling 2024 Gallup poll showing that merely 36% of Americans retain confidence in higher education—a damning reflection of how far the academy has strayed from its proper educational mission toward political indoctrination.

So, Does It Matter?

It matters. In this era of mounting debt, suppressed speech, uncontrolled borders, and widespread historical ignorance, Victor Davis Hanson serves as a crucial voice, summoning Americans back to the foundational principles established by the Founders.

What Hanson offers transcends commentary; he issues a clarion call for intellectual, cultural, and civic engagement. His work reminds Americans that liberty represents not an inheritance but an achievement that requires constant vigilance and defense, often demanding significant sacrifice. He speaks directly to those who feel displaced in their nation, question whether constitutional principles still hold meaning, and refuse to abandon faith in the American experiment.

Victor Davis Hanson matters precisely because he refuses to forget what made America exceptional in the first place. More importantly, he challenges the rest of us to remember as well.