[Protagoras]

Nevertheless, the principle of subsidiarity is a good one. Things should be done at the lowest possible level, nearest the action, better informed, and with a shorter chain of command.

I agree but I think that the author was making the point that intrusive government isn't confined to far away government. In fact the closer it is the more personally intrusive it is likely to be by my observation.

[Kenny Bunk]

... First, the city appropriates money from the productive to buy the land, or, even better, simply uses its coercive monopoly to annex the land. Second, the city steals more money to build the trail system, despite the fact a small minority of the city's population will ever use it. Next, more pilfered tax dollars must be spent to maintain the trails. Finally, to use the trails is now a criminal offense.

Gubmint in a nutshell.

[DuncanWaring]

In fact the closer it is the more personally intrusive it is likely to be...

As Benjamin Martin asked:

Why should I agree to swap one tyrant three thousand miles away for three thousand tyrants one mile away?