The closer money stays to home the better chances of it being spent more wisely and with less corruption and waste in my opinion. Not saying states or cities are perfect but it is assbackwards to send money to the feds and then have it get redistributed back to the states.
Because the government can't take care of us otherwise. That's what everything in Washington politics is about... control over people. The Democrats want to run every aspect of our daily lives, while the Republicans want us to blindly follow them into war after war to "protect" us. Both of them claim to be looking out for our best interests, but neither one of them are truly honest about their real intentions... outside of a very few, and that few exist on both sides of the aisle. This is why we need a viable third party... hell, they can have divergent beliefs but still be united under the common cause of protecting us all from the other two parties.