[RightWhale]

It appears so. It certainly did not create the Montesquieu division of powers that supposedly is the basis of the system. There is check and balance, but it is not simple and direct. It might take the states to get involved, as, for example, 2nd Amendment issues, abortion, and property rights since Kelo, or the people themselves, as in the settling of the West from Kentucky to California. The FedGov is not self-sufficient in that respect.

[Paige]

There is "Checks and Balances" within the Government itself. In Jefferson's "Theory of Nullification," Jefferson and Madison believed the States should have the rights to stop the Federal government from getting out of Control since the States created the Federal Government.
Now we have a huge overbearing government and the States continuously lose rights daily. The States are at the mercy of the Federal Government. So where do the People actually stand in all of this when it comes to the rulings on the Interstate Commerce Clause and other ruling handed down by the Federal Courts and SCOTUS? What is sad, this is a long ways from what John Locke wrote about when it came to Social Contract and the will of the People.