AI Politics

The politics of AI are beginning to bloom, an opportunity for its use as a lever to revive and help reform democracy in America. To be used as such requires an understanding there is no Democratic or Republican position on AI. It is either an issue that helps redefine our politics or simply becomes another toxic element in a system spewing virulent waves of slime across the American landscape.

Let’s start with a fine Reuters’ piece:

"The residents came in camouflage hats and red shirts signaling unity, more than 300 of them packing into a rural Pennsylvania planning commission meeting to protest a proposed data center they feared would carve up their farmland and upend the quiet rhythms of their valley."

"Most were loyal supporters of President Donald Trump, who carried their home of Montour County by 20 percentage points in the 2024 election. But they bristled at Washington’s push to fast-track artificial intelligence infrastructure, which has driven data-center growth in rural areas around the U.S. where land is cheap.

On a recent November evening, residents in this county of 18,000 people stepped to the microphone, questioning Talen Energy (TLN.O) officials about how their planned data center might raise residents' utility bills, reduce working farmland, and strain local water and natural resources."

How do you fit all that into our social media, reality-TV shitshow passed off as politics in America? But it gets better:

"Montour County Commissioner Rebecca Dressler, a Republican, said the concerns are rooted less in ideology than in preserving the region’s character. “Small-town character defines our community,” Dressler said. “People aren’t anti-development - they just want growth that fits who we are.”

Growth that fits who we are. Now, if someone asks you what is the politics of technology, and the time is coming, there’s a nice concise opening.

As the peoples stir, the political class scrambles. Reuters reports,

“Political leaders across the U.S. are urging a rapid expansion of data-center capacity and new power production to keep the country competitive in AI. Trump, a Republican, is promoting the build-out as an economic and national security priority and has directed his administration to bypass environmental rules and permitting that give local communities a voice. In Pennsylvania, Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro and Republican Senator Dave McCormick are courting developers with incentives and infrastructure upgrades to attract investment in the fast-growing industry.”

Call it the same old same old. Reuters then gets to the nut,

“In a place that prides itself on local control, the shift in power to Washington does not sit well.”

“Stay out. We wouldn’t even be having this conversation without federal involvement,” said Craig High, 39, also a Trump supporter. “Both (political) parties are pushing data centers and giving regulatory relief — water permits, permitting, all of it.”

There you have it my fellow Americans. Any politics of reform in America pits counties against the federal government. Reviving, reforming, and evolving democracy in America begins by bringing power, most essentially the ability to decide, back to the counties and distributedly networking them.

The piece ends,

"Communities - red, blue, and everything in between - are united in opposition," she said, referring to so-called red areas dominated by Republicans and blue areas controlled by Democrats. "At a time when we’re so divided, this issue is bringing people together."

Remember, the power of the established political class is built on separation. Such an opportunity to reconfigure won’t be easy, but as Tom Paine wrote in that bleak winter all those years ago, "The tougher the fight, the more glorious the triumph."

NBC reports in greater detail of the AI wave crashing into the political class. Most despicably, though representative of the rot, they report,

“A Democratic operative close to multiple potential 2028 presidential candidates, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, said party leaders are having active discussions about where to come down on the matter. One approach is to “just go all in against it and say these tech oligarchs are bad, they don’t care about you, this is a disaster, they’re coming for your communities,” ahead of the upcoming midterm and presidential elections.”

“Or do you try to win over tech and say, ‘Stay on the sideline, just shut up, we need to put a couple rules in place,’” this person continued. “Just shut the f— up and work with us here.”

Phew, hose me off please. Such sniveling cowards these people are! “Anonymity to speak candidly,” Lord, we will all be destroyed by the clever. Here, candid is a doublespeak strategy to fool your supporters. Little noted over the last few decades is one of the great changes in American politics ushered in by the Clintons was the ability to fuck your supporters but still retain their support came to be considered the highest measure of politics. Until Trump, Obama had been the most accomplished practitioner.

On the other side, so to speak,

"Steve Bannon, a former Trump White House adviser and prominent MAGA media personality, has ramped up his focus on the issue in recent weeks, describing the fight for the right’s future as between “broligarchs” in the tech industry and the populist movement he champions."

“They have to be confronted,” Bannon said in an interview of AI companies. “They’re totally out of control.”

Say what you will about Bannon, he’s no coward. He’s been right on more than a few issues, as he’s right here, no pun intended.

Our established politics are broke. One thing for certain, they offer no ability to confront AI or any ability to create a politics of technology. To the contrary, it is AI that offers the opportunity to confront our established bankrupt politics. What say you America?

Finally, a word on a much older and still more powerful technology – money. John Authors has a fine piece. It’s funny these days how reams (can you say reams?) of conventional BS spew from a person, then they write one piece showing they actually understand completely. I guess you take what you can get.

In this regard, the FT has a nice piece explaining how yes, the banks are still at the bottom of everything, including Private Credit or is it Private Debt? It's always been confusing as all credit is debt. Anyway, the banks are an official component of the money system. If there ever came an accounting of this half-century of financial innovation, the banks are where the buck stops. Bet on it.