Decentralize government as much as possible. It used to be a tiered structure of individual citizen, local, county, state, and Federal governments, with as much power as possible at the lower levels, and trying to minimize the power of the central authority. This was what the Founders attempted to construct.

In each question of authority, be absolutely sure it can't be handled at the lowest possible level (the individual) and then work up if necessary. Modern Americans are far too ready to go for Washington for every possible situation.

The phrase "we don't need to make a Federal case out of it" used to mean something. It used to be more important who your mayor was than who the President was.