I keep hearing about the idea of subsidiarity.
Subsidiarity, Federalism, and the Role of the State says this:
It's a Catholic idea, as explained in The Principle of Subsidiarity:The principle of subsidiarity—the belief that decision-making should occur at the lowest level appropriate to its purpose—is a staple of conservative thought. In fact, it is sometimes asserted that subsidiarity “is a bulwark of limited government and personal freedom.” In general, local control is usually preferable to a decision-making process based on larger political units, in which the responsible officials are far-removed from the affected population. Local government officials are typically more responsive to individual citizens than are federal officials; local decision-making enables regional preferences and variations in lieu of stultifying uniformity; and voters can more easily replace an unresponsive local elected official than his state or federal counterparts.
The following video keeps it simple:One of the key principles of Catholic social thought is known as the principle of subsidiarity. This tenet holds that nothing should be done by a larger and more complex organization which can be done as well by a smaller and simpler organization. In other words, any activity which can be performed by a more decentralized entity should be. This principle is a bulwark of limited government and personal freedom. It conflicts with the passion for centralization and bureaucracy characteristic of the Welfare State.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZFRXp7vKZI)
I'm not Catholic, not since I was an altar boy, but I still think it's a good idea.
It seems to fit in well with my growing belief in localism, something akin to what Robert Nisbet writes about in The Quest for Communiity.