From: The Federalist Papers FB page

Beijing found a cheap way to slow down American AI, and it didn't need to fire a single shot.

Chinese state outlets like China Daily, Global Times, and CGTN have pumped out story after story warning Americans that data centers will drain their water and wreck their towns. OpenAI caught and banned a network of China-linked accounts running a covert influence operation against U.S. data center construction.

China didn't invent every local worry, but it poured gasoline on them. Many of the water claims are outdated or flat wrong, yet they spread like wildfire anyway.

Here is the part that should make every American furious. While Beijing tells us not to build, China is racing to build its own data centers as fast as it can.

Plenty of Republicans bought the scare stories too. Lawmakers in both parties decided that slowing things down first and understanding them later was the responsible move. New York and Pennsylvania have already restricted data center construction.

Then there is Bernie Sanders. After pushing a national moratorium on data centers, he introduced the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act. His bill would force America's largest AI companies to hand half of their ownership to the federal government, paid in newly issued stock, with government representatives on their boards.

That is not regulation. When Washington seizes half of an industry and takes seats in its boardroom, that is socialism by any honest definition.

It also puts America at a grave disadvantage in the most important technology race of our lifetime. Name one thing the government has ever run efficiently or innovatively. Think about the Post Office and Amtrak before you answer.

Government doesn't build industries. It smothers them until the real players stop competing, and in this race, China is counting on exactly that.

Should Washington own half of America's AI companies, or get out of the way so they can beat China?