There is still some level of accountability when dealing with local government officials. All other levels have become unresponsive, bloated, insatiable, self preserving monstrosities. Bastiat said it best "Government is the great fiction wherein men strive to live at the expense of other men".
My more modern take is that Government has evolved into a jobs program for second rate lawyers.
We'd be far better served by stronger local government, and state and federal governments limited to part-time assemblies. Mutual self-defense, insuring a stable money supply, and a minimally invasive amount of regulation of interstate commerce is what the founders envisioned. Arguments are made that this type of limited government would not be effective in todays more complex world, but I disagree. Heck, how much worse could it be? You could make a pretty strong argument that we'd be better off paying the politicians a salary to stay home and do nothing. We'd still be out the money we pay them, but they wouldn't be spending all the rest.