Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words Victor Davis Hanson: California Water Wars: Environmentalist Dam Removal Could Leave 600,000 People Without Water
19 snips
Dec 30, 2025 
Victor Davis Hanson, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, dives into California's contentious water crisis. He highlights how dam removals could jeopardize water supply for 600,000 residents due to environmentalist lawsuits. Hanson critiques the claims surrounding indigenous land, noting historical land changes and the paradox of tribes desiring modern conveniences while opposing infrastructure. He connects these issues to broader identity politics, warning of the potential for increased social fragmentation as claims escalate.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Legal Wins Can Cause Real-World Harms
- Environmentalist legal actions risk large-scale civilian harm by targeting small water diversions as symbolic wins.
- Victor Davis Hanson argues canceling 2–3% diversions could leave 600,000 people without water and punish rural communities unfairly.
Ancestral Claims Versus Established Contracts
- Hanson highlights that land and sovereignty change over time and ancestral claims can be weaponized to overturn established contracts.
- He warns that invoking indigenous claims to invalidate long-standing water agreements destabilizes civilization's infrastructure gains.
Selective Adoption Of Modernity
- Hanson recalls tribal communities selectively using modern civilization while rejecting other parts to argue ancestral purity.
- He contrasts tribal gaming wealth and modern amenities with demands to remove dams and infrastructure built by settlers.