If the founding fathers were brought forward into the future to the present they would both be amazed and utterly shocked by our country today. We have acheived so much it is truly remarkable! Everybody is provided an education, our system of transportation is excellent as is public transportation in many places. The feds come to the aid of the states when disaster hits (e.g. flood). We have a growing economy (unemployment is down, inflation is currently whipped, etc.). The amount of information sharing we enjoy is astonishing (media, 'net, etc.)
Yet they would take a look at the size of our *federal* government and faint. They'd see what our political system has become and decry it. They'd look at the average family's tax burden (40-50%) and probably have heart attacks. They'd look government programs that simply should not exist, others that are mismanaged and even more that waste taxpayer money. And they'd see we appear to lose a freedom every day and on that issue they'd shed a tear.
So the federal government is both bad and good. In my view it has exceeded its bounds and has already overtaxed us and legislated too much morality. No amount of spin can fool me into thinking otherwise and you'd be a fool is disagree with me.