This is why local politics is generally defanged and powerless. Ultimately you cannot make much meaningful change on the local or state level that is hostile to

This is why local politics is generally defanged and powerless. Ultimately you cannot make much meaningful change on the local or state level that is hostile to capitals interests. If what you do is anti-business, even if its in the interests of your actual voting residents, the knock on effects of being "undesirable" for the large companies that largely prop up a lot of economic sectors can see the economic costs equal to or even greater than the benefits given to your community. It actually looks even worse in Europe - not only is the continent hugely economically diverse in development and in governance structure (some are much less or more corrupt and more or less democratic than others) but the free movement and free trade has functionally taken every nations economic sovereignty. Its the only point on which I can agree with Brexiteers on because the EU is much less democratic an institution than a lot of its constituent national governments are. Ultimately final power comes down to the purse. The EU uses the Euro to control economic policy across the continent, the US Federal Reserve uses the USD to control the US economy. There is nothing you can do as any regional or local power to oppose the will of those higher institutions. Especially if you work in the peoples interests, because then you have the joint problem of attracting the poor and downtrodden because you are trying to uplift your working class while losing the favor of the capital you would depend on to generate the revenues to afford anything. Its by design, to be fair.