Americans, this is your chance to slap down the tech broligarchs

Key points

• Solnit says the midterms will be a referendum on the GOP's alignment with tech companies over the public.
• She reports at least 142 activist groups in 24 states have organized against datacenter construction.
• She cites new groups like Mothers Against Media Addiction and Irreplaceable.org as signs of resistance.

Guardian US columnist Rebecca Solnit argues that the midterm elections will serve as a referendum on the Republican Party's alignment with technology companies over the public they are meant to serve. She writes that tech leaders, like the Trump administration, have assumed they can ignore or override the will of the people, and that voters now have a chance to prove them wrong.

Solnit points to growing public opposition to AI, datacenters and surveillance technology, describing it as a nationwide revolt that crosses the political spectrum.

Organized opposition to datacenters

Solnit cites Datacenterwatch.org, which reports that at least 142 activist groups across 24 states have organized to block datacenter construction and expansion. She says the stated concerns often involve local effects on land, water, electricity prices and noise, but that behind them is anger at communities being pushed to accept something that offers them little in return.

She also describes a September march in San Francisco in which more than 1,000 nurses and community members demanded that hospitals cut ties with Palantir, the surveillance corporation founded by Peter Thiel that also aids Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The future depends on wisdom that Silicon Valley lacks.

— David Robinson

New groups and safety concerns

Solnit notes several newer efforts, including Mothers Against Media Addiction, New York City's decision to ban AI for students through eighth grade, and lawsuits against Meta over its effects on children. She also mentions the Association for Human Mathematics, founded in September, and Irreplaceable.org, launched by climate activist Phil Aroneanu with regulation of AI as its main goal.

She references statements from former AI safety employees, including Jacob Coxon and OpenAI's David Robinson, and notes that Anthropic's IPO documents acknowledged AI models could pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity.

What Solnit argues

Solnit writes that the resistance is only meaningful if it knows what it loves and defends, naming democracy, human creativity, human nature and nature itself. She calls election day in 2026 a judgment day and says she will be voting for humanity against what she calls oligarchical technology.