The less local the government, the less likely I am to see any material benifit from the taxes I pay. Local and state taxes fund roads and other infrastructure, public schools, social programs, etc. Federal taxes fund military adventurism, pure corrupt waste like SLS and worst of all ""aid"" for shitty foreign countries like Saudi Arabia and Israel so they can wage wars on their neighbors, for which America's international reputation suffers greatly.
But you are right that more local government has advantages over more centralised government. For example, it's easier to change your local government, if you don't like it: just move to the next town over.
You elk of America's international reputation and foreign fiscal affairs is ironic as you are only inconvenienced a fraction that the hundreds of third world humans endure daily to prop up our unsustainable standard of living.
You have definitely maimed and killed a non-zero amount of humans indirectly by the stochastic math that tallies the bodies on your Luxury products.
We are bias. Your gas wouldn't be less than $10 a gallon if we didn't drop $10b a year policing the Canals, Gulfs, and ports.
The higher your standard of living, the more dependencies, the more complexities, the more abstractions, and more susceptible to changes/perturbations until the "millionaire if not for taxes" thinks he can go without the "taxation without representation" route.
