Just about any argument about politics you'll see are on the level of Nyquil; Nyquil doesn't treat a cold, but the symptoms. Most political debate argues about superficial details of governmental policy, without actually addressing the underlying impetus. Before we can have any sort of progress, we need to reach some sort of consensus or compromise on this question: "What is the role of government?" Then you can apply that question to the various needs of society. After that, we move on to matters of scope; that is, "What level of government would best address this societal need?"
I guess i'm trying to envision a modular sort of government; feudalistic in some ways, maybe. More thoughts later, if i'm lucky.