Victor Davis Hanson's incisive analysis, published on September 11, 2025, paints a grim picture of Western civilisation teetering on the brink, besieged by four self-inflicted crises: radical green mandates, collapsing families, unchecked immigration, and rising tribalism. These "Four Horsemen of the Western Apocalypse" are not external invaders, but the progeny of a naïve, elite-driven ideology that has traded pragmatism for utopian fantasies. As these crises converge, they threaten to unravel the very fabric of the West, its prosperity, cohesion, and cultural identity. I explores the political significance of these horsemen, their roots in ideological hubris, and the urgent need for a course correction to avert collapse.

The First Horseman: Radical Green Mandates

The crusade for "net zero" carbon emissions, driven by what Hanson (see link below) calls "global warming hysterics," has morphed into a dogmatic assault on economic vitality. Europe's headlong rush into solar and wind energy, at the expense of reliable nuclear, coal, and gas, has left Germany, a former industrial titan, economically hollowed out, with soaring energy costs crippling households and industries. In the U.S., similar policies under the Obama and Biden administrations prioritised ideology over practicality, slashing fossil fuel production without viable alternatives. The political implication is a betrayal of the social contract: elites impose policies that impoverish the middle and working classes, while shielding themselves from the consequences. This top-down radicalism, unchecked by cost-benefit analysis, erodes trust in governance and fuels populist backlash. The lesson is clear: environmentalism, when divorced from reason, becomes a wrecking ball, dismantling the economic foundations that sustain civilised societies.

The Second Horseman: Collapsing Families

The West's plummeting fertility rates, 1.4 in Europe, 1.6 in the U.S., signal a demographic death spiral, driven by a cultural rejection of the nuclear family. For decades, academia, media, and elites have peddled the notion that traditional family structures are oppressive, choosing individual "empowerment" over collective survival. The result is an aging, ossifying society unable to reproduce itself, a trend Hanson warns will lead to implosion. Politically, this reflects a profound shift in values: the elevation of transient personal fulfillment over the multi-generational bonds that have historically anchored civilisations. The disdain for larger families as "parochial" or "burdensome," ignores their role as the lifeblood of social stability. Without a revival of family-centric values, the West risks becoming a museum of its own past, populated by the elderly and sustained by nostalgia rather than vitality.

The Third Horseman: Unchecked Immigration

The deliberate dismantling of borders, coupled with the influx of millions of unvetted, often unassimilated immigrants, has unleashed social chaos across the West. Hanson notes that elites ignored a century of evidence that successful immigration requires legality, moderation, diversity, meritocracy, and robust assimilation. Instead, open-border policies have strained welfare systems, spiked crime rates, and fractured social cohesion. The political consequence is a crisis of national identity: when newcomers lack the desire or incentive to adopt the host culture's values, parallel societies emerge, breeding resentment and division. This isn't just a policy failure; it's a rejection of the nation-state as a unifying concept. The West's arrogance in assuming its prosperity could absorb infinite migration without cultural cost, has backfired, creating enclaves of alienation that threaten internal stability. The question looms: can a civilisation survive when it no longer expects newcomers to share its values? Clearly, not cannot.

The Fourth Horseman: Rising Tribalism

The rise of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as a secular religion has birthed a new tribalism, shattering the Enlightenment ideal of individual merit. Hanson argues that this obsession with reparatory justice, rooted in myths of perpetual victimhood, normalises racial fixations and special preferences, reviving the very tribalism the West once sought to transcend. The irony is stark: non-white immigrants flock to the West for its meritocracy and freedom, yet DEI policies undermine these by prioritising group identity over individual achievement. Politically, this horseman signals the death of liberal universalism, replacing it with a zero-sum game where tribes vie for power based on historical grievances. The result is civil strife, as self-perpetuating victimhood narratives fuel hatred and division. The West's self-critical ethos, once a strength, has been weaponised against it, normalising exemptions that erode the social contract and invite pre-civilisational conflict.

The Meta-Political Stakes

These horsemen are not mere policy missteps; they represent a deeper meta-political failure, a crisis of confidence in the West's own values. The elites who champion these crises operate under a delusion of invincibility, believing their wealth and freedom are eternal. This hubris, as Hanson notes, blinds them to the consequences of their utopian bromides. The meta-political shift is evident in the erosion of trust: citizens no longer defer to experts or institutions that betray their interests. The populist surge, seen in movements from Brexit to Trump's 2024 victory, reflects a rebellion against this elite overreach. Yet, the danger lies in escalation: unchecked, these crises could spiral into economic collapse, demographic extinction, social anarchy, or tribal warfare, or, all of the above. The celebration of Charlie Kirk's assassination by millions of the Left, underscores how far the West has strayed from civil debate, with violence now a tool of ideological enforcement. The West stands at a crossroads: either it reasserts its foundational principles — meritocracy, family, sovereignty, and individual liberty — or it succumbs to the chaos of its own making.

Hanson's remedy is a clarion call: the West must stop apologizing for its 2,500-year legacy and take pride in its inclusive, Christian tradition. It must reject radical green dogma and adopt economic stability over utopian mandates. It must celebrate the nuclear family as the bedrock of civilisation, not a relic to be discarded. Immigration must be legal, measured, and assimilation-focused, ensuring newcomers enrich rather than fracture the host culture. And tribalism must be confronted by dismantling DEI's divisive framework, replacing it with a renewed commitment to individual merit. These steps require courage—a willingness to say "enough is enough" to victimhood narratives and elite arrogance. Without such resolve, the horsemen will ride on, trampling the West into history's dustbin.

The Four Horsemen of the Western Apocalypse are not inevitable; they are the offspring of choices made by a minority of privileged ideologues. Yet their hooves thunder louder each day, threatening to collapse the civilisation that birthed them. The meta-political significance lies in the awakening they provoke: a chance for the West to rediscover its resilience, reject self-destruction, and reclaim its legacy as a beacon of freedom and prosperity. The alternative is grim, a descent into chaos where the very values that made the West exceptional are buried beneath the rubble of utopian Leftist folly.

https://amgreatness.com/2025/09/11/the-four-horsemen-of-the-western-apocalypse/