Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-VT) recent call for a nationwide moratorium on data center construction may be framed as a pause for democracy’s sake, but in practice it would lead to very different consequences as a federally mandated halt on infrastructure and economic progress would weaken American innovation, undercut local decision-making, kill construction jobs and hand a strategic advantage to our global competitors.

No one disputes that artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly, or that its implications deserve serious public debate. There is a legitimate role for policymakers, regulators, and communities to play in shaping how AI is developed and deployed. But freezing the construction of data centers, the physical backbone of the digital economy and a growing, vital share of construction spending, is not a democratic caution. It is insanity.