Analysis of: ‘A perfect, wild storm’: widely loathed datacenters see little US political opposition
The Guardian | January 13, 2026
The datacenter controversy in Michigan and across the United States reveals a stark contradiction at the heart of American democracy: overwhelming public opposition spanning the entire political spectrum proves utterly irrelevant when confronting the combined power of tech monopolies, fossil fuel companies, utilities, and their allies in organized labor leadership. Despite 72% of Michigan residents opposing new datacenters, politicians from both parties continue advancing projects that promise billions in profits for corporations while delivering minimal jobs, increased utility bills, depleted water resources, and expanded fossil fuel infrastructure to working-class communities. This situation exemplifies how capital accumulation operates through the state apparatus regardless of nominal party affiliation. The $240 million tech industry spent on Republicans versus $52 million on Democrats last election cycle represents not merely campaign corruption but the systematic purchasing of policy outcomes. Both 'pro-business Democrats' like Governor Whitmer and Trump-allied Republicans serve identical class interests, differing only in rhetorical packaging. The AFL-CIO's support for these projects—against the clear interests of affected workers—demonstrates how labor bureaucracies can become instruments of capital rather than working-class power. The grassroots coalitions forming across ideological lines represent an emergent class consciousness, however inchoate. When 'Stop the Steal' activists and Democratic Socialists find common cause against tech oligarchs, it signals that material conditions are creating the possibility for broader working-class unity. Yet without organizational forms capable of translating this unity into political power, such coalitions remain trapped in 'David versus Goliath' battles at the local level while state and federal governments continue serving concentrated capital.
Class Dynamics
Actors: Tech monopolies (Oracle, OpenAI, big tech), Fossil fuel industry, Utility companies, AFL-CIO leadership, Working and middle-class residents, State and federal legislators, Pro-business Democrats, Trump administration, Grassroots organizers and advocacy groups
Beneficiaries: Tech monopoly shareholders and executives, Fossil fuel corporations expanding infrastructure, Utility company investors, AFL-CIO bureaucracy (through construction contracts), Politicians receiving campaign contributions, Real estate developers around datacenter sites
Harmed Parties: Working and middle-class residents facing higher utility bills, Rural communities losing character and resources, Workers whose jobs AI will eliminate, Future generations bearing environmental costs, Communities facing water depletion, Rank-and-file union members whose leadership betrays their interests
The article reveals a class alliance between tech monopolies, fossil fuel companies, utilities, and labor bureaucracy—backed by both political parties—arrayed against dispersed working-class communities. Despite numerical superiority and cross-ideological unity, affected residents lack the institutional power to counter $292 million in tech campaign spending and the bipartisan consensus serving capital accumulation. The state apparatus at federal and most state levels functions as an instrument of capitalist class interests, forcing resistance into localized, defensive battles with limited capacity to challenge systemic power.
Material Conditions
Economic Factors: AI infrastructure as new frontier of capital accumulation, $7 billion Oracle/OpenAI investment in Michigan, $292 million tech sector political spending, Hundreds of millions in tax breaks subsidizing private profit, Utility rate increases transferring costs to working-class ratepayers, Fossil fuel infrastructure expansion, Minimal job creation despite massive investment
Datacenters represent a concentration of capital in AI infrastructure that fundamentally alters production relations: they require massive resource inputs (energy, water, land) while employing minimal labor, and their explicit purpose is automating work to eliminate human labor from production processes. The contradiction is that workers are subsidizing through taxes and utility rates the very infrastructure designed to make them redundant. Meanwhile, the AFL-CIO's support reveals how labor organizations can become allied with capital when their institutional interests (construction jobs) diverge from broader working-class interests.
Resources at Stake: Electrical grid capacity and energy costs, Water resources for cooling, Agricultural and rural land, Public tax revenue forgone through subsidies, AI monopoly profits, Political influence through campaign spending, Working-class household budgets via utility increases
Historical Context
Precedents: Railroad land grants and subsidies of the 19th century, Enclosure movements displacing rural communities for capital, Tax increment financing schemes benefiting developers, Stadium deals extracting public subsidies for private profit, AFL leadership supporting NAFTA against rank-and-file interests, Tech industry's historical extraction of public research for private gain
This situation follows the established pattern of capital accumulation through primitive accumulation—the extraction of common resources (water, energy grid, tax base) for private profit. Like the enclosures that dispossessed peasants to create industrial capitalism's labor force, datacenter expansion dispossesses communities of resources while building infrastructure designed to eliminate their labor value. The bipartisan consensus reflects how the capitalist state functions across administrations to facilitate capital accumulation regardless of electoral outcomes—a pattern visible from railroad subsidies through bank bailouts to contemporary tech monopoly support.
Contradictions
Primary: The fundamental contradiction between democratic legitimacy and capitalist accumulation: 72% opposition proves meaningless against concentrated capital, revealing that formal democracy cannot constrain economic power, potentially delegitimizing democratic institutions themselves.
Secondary: AFL-CIO leadership supporting projects that harm the broader working class for narrow institutional benefits, Democrats positioning as pro-worker while serving tech oligarchs, AI infrastructure marketed as progress while designed to eliminate employment, National security framing serves corporate expansion rather than public safety, Cross-partisan grassroots unity unable to translate into political power, Local democratic victories (Georgia utility commission) undermined by federal and state policy
The contradiction between popular opposition and state-backed capital expansion is unlikely to resolve through existing institutional channels. Either grassroots coalitions develop organizational forms capable of exercising countervailing power—potentially through sustained disruption of datacenter construction, utility rate strikes, or electoral insurgencies—or the continued demonstration that 'democratic governance cannot do what the vast majority of people want' accelerates legitimacy crises. The midterm elections represent a potential inflection point, though history suggests capital will adapt through increased spending and co-optation rather than conceding to popular demands.
Global Interconnections
The datacenter expansion reflects global capital's search for new accumulation frontiers as traditional manufacturing reaches profitability limits. The AI infrastructure buildout mirrors historical patterns where technological revolutions required massive public subsidy and resource extraction to establish new regimes of accumulation—from canals and railroads to highways and the internet. The international dimension includes competition with China for AI dominance, which both parties invoke to justify overriding local opposition in the name of national security, revealing how inter-imperialist rivalry disciplines domestic politics to serve capital. The formation of cross-ideological grassroots coalitions mirrors global patterns where neoliberalism's contradictions create possibilities for new political alignments outside traditional left-right frameworks. Similar anti-extraction movements have emerged from Standing Rock to European anti-austerity protests, suggesting that material conditions are creating the basis for class-based politics that transcend existing partisan divisions. However, without organizational infrastructure connecting these local struggles, they remain isolated and defensive.
Conclusion
The datacenter controversy illuminates a critical juncture in American political economy: the mechanisms that previously allowed capital to present its interests as universal are visibly breaking down, yet no countervailing force has emerged capable of translating popular discontent into systemic change. The 2026 midterms will test whether grassroots opposition can coalesce into electoral challenges, but history suggests that without building durable organizational power independent of both parties, such electoral moments produce at best temporary concessions. The deeper lesson is that neither party represents working-class interests when those interests conflict with capital accumulation—a recognition that could catalyze either renewed class-based organizing or deepening cynicism about collective action. The 'great unifier' of datacenter opposition represents potential but not yet power; transforming the former into the latter requires organizational forms that do not yet exist but whose necessity becomes clearer with each demonstration that democracy cannot constrain capital.
Editorial Note: This analysis applies a dialectical materialist framework to news events. It represents one interpretive perspective and should not be considered objective reporting.
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