The New Sacrament of the Marxist Left: Opposing Data Centers

In today’s left-wing politics, fighting against data centers has become a required belief, right up there with other non-negotiable causes like socialism, targeted racism, antisemitism, and abortion. From Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to more than 230 environmental groups, activists hold protests, sign petitions, and demand total data center building bans. They present data centers as a threat to the planet and ordinary families, all in the name of stopping Big Tech. 

These buildings house the powerful computers that run the internet, cloud services, video streaming, and the fast-growing world of artificial intelligence. Yet critics accuse them of wasting resources and raising everyone’s costs.

This firm resistance stems from assertions that are outdated, overstated, or outright deceptive.  Modern data centers do not waste massive amounts of water, they often supply or arrange their own electricity, and they do not automatically make your home power bill go up. The left’s knee-jerk anger says more about their dislike of capitalism than about the facts. It is a modern version of the Luddites, people who once smashed machines out of fear of progress, wrapped in moral language instead of facing practical solutions.

Critics like to say data centers are “sucking up rivers” for cooling. That picture is outdated. The industry has advanced significantly. Microsoft, for one, has cut its water use per amount of computing power by more than 80% in recent years. They mostly use smart air cooling that only needs a little water spray on the very hottest days, plus sealed systems that recycle fluid. Most of their buildings operate with minimal water use (maintenance, mopping, toilets and kitchens).

New liquid cooling systems from companies like NVIDIA need almost zero fresh water in the right climates. Operators reuse city wastewater, collect rainwater, and install equipment that loses almost none. In dry regions, they pick smart locations and better technology to keep impact low. The scary stories ignore how quickly engineering has solved these issues, and how the companies themselves pay to make it happen.

Another big complaint is that data centers overload the public electric grid and stick families with higher bills. But the largest operators are changing that. They make private deals for their own dedicated power or build generation right next to their buildings. This includes restarting old nuclear plants or adding new, small reactors that run cleanly around the clock. Some link directly to wind or solar farms.

Big tech companies have promised to handle their own electricity needs so they don’t burden regular customers. When power is made privately on-site, it stays separate from the grid that serves your home. This keeps costs from spreading to families.

You’ll hear claims that data centers are the reason electricity costs more. The truth is more balanced. In a few crowded spots there has been some pressure on prices, but many studies show that adding these facilities has often helped keep home rates steady or even a bit lower overall. More demand can spread the fixed costs of power lines and plants across more users. States with fast growth, including from data centers, have frequently seen stable or falling rates.

Virginia, home to the world’s biggest collection of data centers, has kept its electricity prices fairly flat despite huge growth. When centers make much of their own power privately, the effect on home bills shrinks even more. They usually pay higher business rates and help fund grid upgrades. Far from being parasites, they often act like economic anchors for their areas.

Despite the improvements, the left continues its campaign because data centers stand for things they oppose, like successful private companies, fast technological change, and private wealth creation. In their worldview, these buildings represent unfair capitalism that must be stopped. 

Environmental concerns give their anti-growth beliefs a nicer-sounding cover. They push for total halts on new data center builds, treating AI tools as automatically bad, while ignoring how those tools help with new medicines, climate research, and keeping America ahead of countries like China.

This approach backfires. Blocking efficient, self-powered projects hands advantages to nations that care less about rules or the environment. It slows down breakthroughs that could solve bigger problems. Practical local zoning regulations can effectively address concerns such as noise and aesthetics. We do not need nationwide bans.

We should focus on common-sense steps: speed up safe nuclear power, reward the cleanest designs, and make sure companies truly cover their costs. The challenges around water and electricity are being solved with smart engineering and investment. Opposing data centers is not genuine environmental protection — it is choosing slow decline while pretending to save the world.

The Marxist left’s new ritual puts ideology above truth. Modern data centers show how problems can be fixed with creativity and capital. We do not need more protests. We need more smartly built datacenters. The servers will keep running either way. The real choice is whether the West leads with confidence or falls behind in a cloud of partisan slogans.