Data centers are becoming the new wind farms. Everyone wants the economic-development announcement. Fewer people want the noise, the transmission lines, the water consumption — or the electricity bill. Edgerton, Leavenworth, and Tonganoxie have all been through versions of this fight.

But data centers are not optional. They are the physical infrastructure of the American economy and of American national security. If Kansas decides it doesn't want them, they go to another state. The demand does not disappear.

Silicon Valley has quietly rediscovered baseload power. Microsoft, Amazon, Google, and Oracle are all exploring dedicated nuclear partnerships. Physics, unlike software, does not accept beta versions. And Kansas — with 35 percent of the world's general aviation aircraft built in Wichita — already knows how to build machines that cannot fail.

This week's essay makes the full case for where Kansas should compete — and what the legislature should do about it before the next session ends.