Obviously, there is no "going back" to such a time. I was reading about how the average citizen had almost no interaction with "Federal government" outside times of war until the FDR era, or perhaps one could date this earlier to when income tax was firmly established. Folks would vote, of course, and be drafted as needed, but otherwise "Federal government" played no role in their lives.
The Feds took up less than one percent of GDP outside time of war, versus today's 20+ percent or so. One can pine for those days of course, but short of some massive implosion, they aren't returning, ever. We probably would have to pass through actual anarchy before getting to it.