Independent businesses can't pay to kiss the ring in the form of all manner of local permits and hoops that must be jumped through to the benefit of various par

Independent businesses can't pay to kiss the ring in the form of all manner of local permits and hoops that must be jumped through to the benefit of various parties who otherwise have no stake in the matter. Amazon can. Chain stuff can. That's a large part of why every good school district that's inevitably full of bad people winds up looking exactly the same.