When thinking about the Government, should priority be given to the powers at the federal level or the state level? why?

One nation under God. Not everybody  creating chaos for everybody else.

More power to the people (local) then slightly less to the state, then the least to the federal branch, the federal branch has the responsibility to protect the people, their rights, and the constitution, and the people (and localities and states) have the right to the courts to protect their rights from federal encroachment.

Our first try was to make states more or less sovereign, to have a federal govt. that had had no powers over the states.  A 'confederation' it was called.  Each state had its own currency, controlled its own roads, etc.  That didn't work!  Nobody liked it.

So the next try was the Constitution, a -federal- system.  And that has lasted longer than any such document, any such govt. in history.

The Constitution says whenever there's a disagreement between a state govt. and the fed. govt., the fed govt. wins.

The 10th Amendment tackles that issue. Read it. The Federal government is granted only certain powers. All other powers is granted to the states or individuals.

That varies by issue...

Individual level . Government is a service . Not nepotism