This post will be about disloyal opposition and the swelling out of rural community properties to big corporations and Data center constructions in recent years. This is disloyal opposition because state legislators sell out the local communities that hire them for major corporations and Data Centers.  This goes against their responsibility as elected officials to carry out the wishes of their constituents which in turn means that they are not beholden to the values of democracy.  For the purposes of the argument, we will look at a couple specific real world examples of this problem.  We also will see the true anger that people express after realizing that the officials they elected are not protecting their communities. 

One of the first examples that I can think of is when Missouri politicians pushed for the development of a six billion dollar AI data center in the town of Festus.  Against the wishes of the majority of the 14,000 residents of the city, local politicians pushed for this development selling out local communities.  Data centers in communities like this destroy local environments and pollute water.  After residents expressed extreme opposition towards the project, local officials who were elected by these residents decided that it would be a good step for the local economy.   These data centers consume huge amounts of water that these communities need to thrive and the major corporations that build these centers are not slowing down in their land acquisitions. 

These politicians often give into these companies who blur the lines between private-corporate gain while claiming that the programs will help the people living in the communities.  The majority of people in these communities do not wish for these data centers to be built.  Community politicians in many other communities on the other hand are actually looking out for the wants and needs of their constituents. 

 We can see this in local governments in Colorado and Idaho who have put in temporary bans. Residents in Boulder City Nevada pushed back against a facility after officials attempted to let a company in.  Residents are often the force that has to confront the politicians that allow this to happen.  This shows us that the elected officials are often failing to legislate in the way that their population wants, or they do not care. 

The introduction of these data centers to rural American communities are almost always against public opinion.  The communities that have to experience the negative effects of these centers often are ignored by the legislative politicians who represent them.  This is disloyal opposition because the politicians are selling out the constituents who elected them in favor of these massive corporations.  The politicians who let through the construction for these centers often do not personally have to experience the negative externalities created by the centers while poor Americans living near the centers struggle with access to safe and clean water. 

Poor rural communities are often very vulnerable to these centers because they have less financial resources to resist.  Politicians, who often live in state capitals or urban county areas, see the potential financial gain for the wealthy without thinking about the rural poor.