etc....... .....environmental protection, education standards, disaster relief, interstate highways, food safety, drug safety, regulation of the banks Wall St. and corporations, energy policy, social welfare, science research..... really, there is little that states are more capable of doing except local issues like hunting/fishing regulations and stupid shit like banning the teaching of evolution in the schools.
Actually states are far more adept at servicing their citizens than the Federal Government trying to force a one size fits all policy. Education standards - Core, say no more. Disaster Relief - should be funded at the federal level, administered by the state (with state national guard). highways - states already handle local roads just fine and could easily handle interstate roads in their boundaries. In fact, they already administer it, have it bid on and just get money from the Feds. Food safety - agree, best in Federal hands. Drug safety - Goes with food safety, hence the "Food and Drug" administration. Regulation of banks - yeah, they've done such a great job on that at the federal level. LOL! Energy Policy - complete waste of time and money. Dept of energy, originally created to get us off foreign oil decades ago. Recent phenomenal successes in Green Energy companies (Solyndra, etc). Social welfare - States administer most of that now, they just get a good portion of the money from the Feds. Science Research - private industry does this best, but grants could (and should) be made available by states through tax incentives, etc. to eliminate corruption at the Federal level.