Some states have provisions for direct input by the citizens. California has a referendum process where initiatives get put on the ballot for the citizens to decide. While many states have them, California has had some of the most controversial and publicized ones (proposition 13 comes to mind).
They are of course very political and can lead to outcomes that might be problematic. Great Britain put Brexit to a popular vote and against most odds it passed forcing ongoing issues with separating from the European Union.
This is a good example of the porblems with the process. Some issues can be too complex for the average person to fully understand. The appeal of Brexit was to eliminate European requirements and let the English be ruled by themselves. Of couse the downside of the vote was the loss of significant markets.
Whether British politicians understood all the issues is doubtful but like us partisan politics leads to certain decisions despite the facts.
We don't have Federal Referendums which is a bit of a shame. Some things could probably be fixed such as the Electoral College.
The system of checks and balances we learned about is really just protection for states with unpopular policies. When it was established, it protected Slavery. It balanced or checked the will of the majority with hard to overcome requirements.
It's not democracy.
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