I've thought about this some. I think that both the federalist and the anti-federalist were right in the core assumptions.

The federalist believing that we would never really have had a nation (that would last) if we didn't adopt some strong form of central government.

The anti-federalists believing that the central government would grow to be tyrannical.

Many make the assumption that one of those was the correct choice. But I think that maybe there is no right choice.

At any rate, even the federalists would be aghast today. Federalism is all but dead.